


It's the Perfect Story

by TheBrightestNight



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Mild Blood, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-11 02:16:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 43
Words: 230,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5610163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBrightestNight/pseuds/TheBrightestNight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So they say. • Luke was angry, which led to all the wrong choices, for all the wrong reasons. What if someone who knows him better than he knows himself was thrown in? Can she save him, or will her past give her a reason to hate the gods, too? Do the Fates have other plans? • All the wrong choices, for all the right reasons. Well, for one reason. Love conquers all. So they say.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stormy Sailing

**Author's Note:**

> A story that's a blast from the past, because this is going to take place from TLT to TLO.
> 
> This is also a re-write. If you'd like to see my horrendous first tries, they're on my FF.net account (of the same name). There's no need to read them before reading this one, if that wasn't obvious.
> 
> Original story idea was formed from listening to "Lost in Your Own Life" by Alexa Vega. The title and part of the summary is from the song "So They Say" from Dr. Horrible.
> 
> If you don’t know Dr. Horrible and go listen to the song, it won’t make too much sense, and it’ll also sound really upbeat and happy, don’t be fooled, though, because I find it has some very sad undertones. Which is also why I named this story after one of the song’s lyrics.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

" _Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Martin Luther King, Jr._

* * *

 

I didn't want to be here.

But I didn't want to be anywhere else either.

It was loud and chaotic, but at least their voices were many. It had become an indistinct roar of twittering voices. I didn't have to hear individuals and I had no way of making out their words with so many talking at once.

I didn't want to hear about the half-blood that had slayed the Minotaur anymore. I was tired of it. It'd been a few days and _still_ it was all the camp seemed to be able to talk about. Not only that, but they had, of course, started theorizing. We may have been half god, but that didn't make us any less human. And humans loved to talk, chatter, gossip and speculate.

If I heard this boy being the son of the "Big Three" one more time I swear I was going to—

Instead of preparing for my afternoon archery class with Chiron like I should've been doing, I was in the Hermes cabin, sitting on one of the bottom bunks (something I'd earned for being at Camp Half-Blood for so long), knees pulled up to my chest. I had to make a conscious effort not to rock back and forth, lest I look like a madwoman. I concentrated hard on this, staring at a spot on my bunk, my arms wrapped around my legs tightly.

In other words, I was trying to avoid the gossip as much as possible going on around camp. If that meant dealing with rowdy, noisy, mischievous children of Hermes and doing things to the last possible moment then so be it.

I heard the door open but paid no mind until I noticed the movement of a mass out of my peripherals. I inclined my head slightly to look around the cabin and noticed everyone bowing respectfully to Chiron, who was standing outside. I quickly slid off my bunk and bowed as well, before going back to it, only sitting on the edge instead of in the middle. My hands rested on either side of my legs on the edge of the bed, too, holding me up as I leaned forward, hunching my shoulders slightly, and I stared at a spot on the floor this time. I let my light blonde hair fall to partially hide my face.

Not that I really needed it. With it being so crowded in here, the rest of the kids would hide me in my little corner. Especially if they stood and I sat. Of course, that wasn't entirely the case. Some stood and some had sat back down since bowing to Chiron. Still, I had perfected becoming a wallflower.

"Well," I recognized Annabeth's voice. "Go on," she prompted. There was a moment of silence before the cabin broke out into a chorus of snickers and stifled chuckles. I didn't look up to see what had happened.

"Percy Jackson," Annabeth's voice rang through the cabin, as if she'd stepped inside, which in all fairness, she probably had. "Meet cabin eleven."

Another small moment of dead air.

"Regular or undetermined?" I called from my spot, not moving at all, not even my head to look up. I knew it was a question on everyone's minds and someone had to ask it. Since no one had yet, I decided I'd do us all a favor and ask.

"Undetermined," Annabeth answered, followed by a collective groan from the cabin. I suddenly recalled a small empty space having popped on the floor in here. That must've been for him.

Someone sat down next to me and gently bumped my shoulder. My hand came up to brush the hair I'd let fall in my face back behind my ear—stupid nervous tick—before I looked over to see who'd joined me and my eyes met with beautiful, glittering wintery blue eyes.

Luke.

Looking into his eyes now brought me back to the first time I _really_ looked into his eyes. Before then, we'd barely talked to each other. He kept to himself and Annabeth. I kept to myself and my twin brother, Daniel.

Camp Half-Blood, gods, Greek mythology, real weapons and real monsters, all of it was almost too much at the time. It was overwhelming, having never been exposed to them before this. Save once. And it hadn't been a particularly good experience either. So I and my brother, with our mom gone and an absent godly father, used each other as a crutch to make it through those first few months without completely falling apart.

I'd seen Luke because he'd been living in the Hermes cabin. Dan and I hadn't been claimed, so we were put there, too. I didn't meet him my first day I was there seeing as the Hermes cabin was as crowded as ever and he hadn't been the head counselor. I didn't even officially meet him in the first week. He was just another face in the Hermes cabin. I saw him there, in passing and sometimes in activities. Other than that, we both went about our lives pretty separately.

It had been the end of the first week at Camp Half-Blood. Chiron told me, my brother and a few other half-bloods that had also shown up around the same time we came that after a week of training with a multitude of weapons, in his class, they held this little… test of sorts. Like a final exam.

It was dangerous, but not so that anyone had died from it yet. Majorly injured, but not dead. I had wanted, at the time, to ask him what his definition of majorly injured was—in fact, I think I had—but he suddenly became hard of hearing.

The test was this: We were sent out into the forest, along different paths. In the forest were summoned monsters that we would encounter and fight. We were given the weapon that we'd been fairly good at throughout this first week to see if we could be moved up into the next class for that particular weapon.

Chiron said not to worry, though, because we'd have more skilled campers to help us if the need arose. They were also there to watch and give Chiron their evaluation after it was all over.

We were sent in, one at a time, periodically, so that our presence would be staggered and hopefully we wouldn't run into one another or into the same monster. I was third. Unlike the two before me, who seemed pretty amped to be doing this, I crept through the bushes and trees at a slow pace.

My senses had flared to hyper-alert mode. If a shadow moved, my head turned in that direction. I heard every little stir of bushes and rustle of leaves. I treaded carefully, trying to figure out where I was and where I was planning on heading, with an arrow nocked in my bow in case I needed to act fast.

Yes, I was given a bow and a quiver of arrows, because I'd shown an affinity for them during our initial training. So had my brother. No surprise there, we were twins.

This so-called test was insane. Everyone at this camp was insane. I was insane. Gods, monsters, centaurs, satyrs, naiads, wood nymphs, it was endless. And it was all real. You'd think I'd have accepted this fact, but apparently I hadn't. Not completely, anyway.

The rustle of leaves, followed by a low growl stopped me in my tracks. Chills rushed down my spine as I looked to my left out of my peripherals, but didn't dare move, didn't dare breath. I'd recognize the sound of that growl anywhere.

Hellhound.

My pulse pounded and I swallowed hard, trying to listen over the roar of blood in my ears. Breathing, I could hear it breathing. It was relatively large, then.

I took a deep, shaking breath, feeling my muscles coil ready to spring into action. I could do this. I could face my fear, my demon, literally and figuratively. I could _do_ this.

Quick as lightning, I raised my bow and arrow as I turned, taking a few steps back, away where the rustle had come from.

At my movement, the thing leapt out from the bushes it had been hiding in, coal black lips pull back over its muzzle, revealing slimy, slobbery razor-sharp teeth. My heart stopped and so did my breath.

All hellhounds must've looked almost exactly the same. Ink-black fur, those sharp-as-knives teeth and its eyes—

I blinked hard and looked away from its eyes. No, I couldn't look at its eyes. I felt my world tilt slightly and my ears rung with echo-y, far away screams and I'd barely even glanced at them.

I raised my bow again, for my arms had somewhat dropped at the sight of the thing, keeping my eyes on the point on its forehead I was going to shoot.

I could do this. I was _going_ to do this. I was going to overcome my fear.

It lunged at me and I was just about to let my arrow fly when I made the mistake of looking into its glowing, lava red eyes again.

My mind panicked. It all came flooding back to me, into my head, like a movie playing behind my eyes that I couldn't stop, couldn't escape from.

The image of the hellhound flying through the air at me blurred, replaced by horrifying flashbacks. Screams filled my ears. Moving, pulsing black covered my vision before being spattered with blood red.

The screams got louder.

A woman's voice, shrill and terrified. A name mixed in with her cries of agony, her cries of help.

" _Please! Help me! Apollo, please! Please! Apollo, help me, please! Apollo!_ "

I sucked in a sharp breath as my vision snapped back into place. I was on the ground now, the hellhound hanging over me. I somehow had managed, through my haze, to put my hands around the hound's neck, keeping its now snapping jaws from anything vital.

It wasn't nearly as big as the one I'd seen before.

I didn't know where my arrow had ended up flying and my bow obviously wasn't in my hand. I was too busy trying to stay alive, though, to really care. I vaguely wondered where the camper who was supposed to be helping me was when the monster reminded me that its paws were still free.

It swiped at me and I turned my head away. A sharp pain blossomed in my neck, followed by a warmth that spilled down the cool skin of my neck and onto the forest floor. I don't know what I was thinking at the time, but my right hand suddenly came away from the hound to cover the wound on my neck. My other hand, not strong enough to hold up the monster alone, buckled, letting the monster fall fully on top of me.

Its previous flailing paws landed hard on either side of my head. Its face got right into mine and I thought for sure I was a goner, but it yelped suddenly before falling to its side, off of me, and melting into the shadows in the forest, just like the other one.

Meanwhile, blood continued to pour out, through my fingers, and the summer sky and trees above me spun. Light blue mixed in with spring green and dark brown.

My breathing became more erratic and I tried to blink away the watercolor sky.

An artery, I thought a little absentmindedly, though I didn't know where that information had come from. The hellhound's claw had only nicked my neck, but it had nicked an artery in my neck. I was going to bleed out in seconds.

I was going to die.

It was then did I finally see Luke, _really_ see him, for the first time.

I would find out later, Luke had sprinted from wherever he was to me, getting rid of the monster before kneeling down next to me, putting his hand over my bloodied one as more of that vital fluid poured from my substantially small wound. He had turned his head away and yelled something too, but I was too far gone already to know what he'd said. Then his eyes were back on me. His lips were moving, but no sound from what I could tell was coming out. So I focused on his eyes.

His blue eyes had been wide and concerned—for me, when we'd barely known each other?—and I wasn't sure if that's why I'd finally realized how lovely they were or because I was losing so much blood, my life slowly ebbing away as it did so.

They reminded me of winter, of crystal clear ice that's been frozen over a mineral blue lake.

"You have beautiful eyes," I remember myself saying before promptly passing out.

Luke suddenly gave my knee a reassuring squeeze—breaking me out of my memory—followed by a reassuring smile before standing up and making his way from my bunk and over to the newcomer.

"Now, now campers," he said loudly, knowing how annoyed and tired they felt to have even less space in this already crowded cabin. "That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy." Ah, so that was his name. "You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."

I looked over my shoulder and sure enough, there was the empty spot I'd noticed earlier. I then looked over at Luke.

He was nineteen years old. He was a tall, muscular guy with, as I said, wintery blue eyes and short-cropped sandy hair. He always had a smile for everyone, though I'd noticed after spending about a year with him (and after), it was very forced. He was a good actor, because no one else had seemed to notice, if they had, no one ever said anything. But I had and since then, made it my goal to make him genuinely smile. From our first meeting to now, I'd managed it a few dozen times or so, and counting.

After that whole encounter with the hellhound and almost dying, it was in the infirmary, where he came to visit and apologize for not getting there sooner, did we finally actually exchange names.

I was good with a bow, but I had also wanted to learn swordsmanship, and Luke had already become an assistant teacher in those classes. I realized, later, when sparing with him, that it was because he was good.

He was much better than I, for some obvious reasons and some not so, and it intrigued me. When he fought, he got a very determined, very concentrated look on his face. His technique was that of someone who'd been doing this before. It made me wonder what had happened before he came here.

He was a very mysterious character when I'd first met and got to know him. Now I knew him like the back of my hand.

My eyes slid over to Percy (a much younger, tanned boy with jet black hair and odd sea-green eyes) for a moment, just in time to see an unsettled look cross his face. At a guess it was probably due to Luke's scar. A scar that started just below his right eye and went all the down to his jaw, received from a dragon. It had taken a long time for me to get him to genuinely smile after that incident.

We had both arrived at Camp Half-Blood only a few weeks apart, so I'd known him before and after the scar. We were also both year-rounders. As was Annabeth.

"This is Luke," Annabeth introduced. My eyes strayed to her. She was blushing. I turned my head back to the spot on the floor, smiling and rolling my eyes. A lot of girls blushed when Luke was around. The Aphrodite girls (and some boys) wouldn't shut up about him.

We had shared intimate moments, exchanged secrets and confessed our deepest, darkest thoughts. We both had scars from our past, physical and mental and we'd grown close over the six years together. But, right now, we were just best friends. I wasn't sure if he wanted to make it something more and I wasn't even sure if _I_ wanted to, either, so right now it was locked off in a room in the far recesses of my mind. I had more important things to be thinking about.

"He's your counselor for now," Annabeth finished, her voice harder than before. I suspected it was because Percy had looked at her. No doubt he'd noticed the change in her voice, too. He may have been young from a glance, but he wasn't that oblivious. Especially when Annabeth didn't exactly make her crush a secret. I'd bet you ten gold drachmas the whole camp knew.

"For now?" Percy asked.

"You're undetermined," Luke explained in a carefully crafted, practiced patient voice. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here." I unconsciously started mouthing along as Luke continued his little speech, having heard it so many time before. "Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

There was a long pause before Percy spoke.

"How long will I be here?" he asked.

"Good question," Luke replied as I scoffed under my breath. "Until you're determined."

"How long will that take?"

The cabin broke out into laughter this time.

And I was late for my archery class.


	2. Achievement Unlocked: Master of Archery

The campers continued to snicker and chortle as Annabeth practically dragged Percy out. She was speaking to him, but the laughter was too loud and I didn't care to pay attention. I sighed and stood up, closing my eyes, but keeping them pointed at the floor. I stretched a tiny bit before carefully making my way around the still laughing campers, stepping over legs, feet, hands, sleeping bags, personal possessions, etc.

I passed Luke in the middle of the cabin, who put his hand lightly on my shoulder. He gave me a small smile and I managed somewhat of a smile back, putting my hand over his, before continuing toward the door and outside in sweltering heat. The summer sun was intense overhead. It reminded me of that cliché, high noon.

I almost pulled up the sleeves of my shirt—they only went down to my elbows—but caught myself and pulled them unnecessarily back into place. I always wore these shirts in the summer. It didn't matter what temperature it was, I never took them off and I never went without them.

My first summer here, those who were brave enough to ask about why I wore those kinds of shirt, even when it got really hot, did. I never answered them. Too personal. I didn't say that to them, though, I simply told them personal choice and left it at that. People stopped asking.

Winter and fall were easier, because long-sleeved shirts were expected. No one asked questions then. Sometimes, brave newcomers would ask now and again, but I said the same thing as I always had.

As soon as I got outside I ran to the armory to grab a bow and quiver of arrows before running straight into the forest, to my class with Chiron. I hope I hadn't missed too much. As I headed toward the forest, though I heard a scream that broke the sound barrier. I stopped short and looked around, trying to see what'd happened. I saw a crowd congregating near the bathrooms, but I was already plenty late to my class. If a crowd was gathering and there was no more screaming then it couldn't have been life-threatening.

As I got closer to where he usually started the class, I slowed and tried not to sound like I'd just sprinted from my cabin, to the armory and then here. I wasn't sure how late I was, either. I never wore a watch, I didn't see the need to. Now I kind of wished I did.

Still slightly panting, I stopped at the back of the group, hoping to look like I'd been there the whole time. Of course, I should've known Chiron would notice my absence. I don't know why I thought otherwise.

"Oh, Tori!" he exclaimed a few moments after I showed up. I froze, holding my breath as the rest of the group turned to look at me. Most of them were smirking. This was a relatively small class (there was a different archery masters' class for other campers with conflicts in their schedule with this one), so I should've known _no one_ would've missed my short absence.

I thought for sure he was going to chew me out in front of the rest of the campers. He did kind of the opposite, though I wasn't sure if it was worse or better at the time.

"Thank you," Chiron continued, "for volunteering to go first!"

I blinked. First for what? I looked at the rest of the class, trying to decipher what he meant. They were dressed in Greek battle armor and though this was an archery class, some of them held other weapons: swords, spears, I think I even saw an axe or two.

Oh. _Oh!_ I had completely blanked. We had a test today to see how far we'd come this summer. It was like a mid-term.

One of the Apollo campers closest to me snickered. "Good luck," he muttered under his breath.

I glared at him through narrowed eyes.

Most of the class was made up of demigods from the Apollo cabin. There were only three others that weren't, including me (technically speaking). The other two were from the Athena cabin.

"Now why don't you don your armor so that we may begin," Chiron suggested, bringing my attention back to him. I nodded mutely and went to put on the gear: a bronze breastplate and helm.

They weren't ordinary breastplates and helms, however. Curtesy of the Hephaestus and Athena cabins—Hephaestus for forging, Athena for the idea and help with anatomy of the body. They were like a combination between laser tag gear and fencing gear. If a weapon hit the breastplate or helm, a light would flash: white if it did minor damage, blue if it did major damage, red if it was fatal. It was quite modern for how old-age things seemed at camp sometimes.

Chiron informed us of the perimeters of the test—about an eight-yard by eleven-yard rectangle—before trotting off to watch from the sidelines. I stood in the middle, and waited for opponents to attack me. I couldn't go out of my even smaller rectangular perimeter or the test would be over and I'd get an automatic F, if Chiron graded with letters.

"Begin!" he called once he was in place.

I nocked an arrow in my bow, all my senses flaring as I looked around, waiting for someone to come at me.

Pounding footsteps hit my ear, coming toward my right and slightly behind me. I swiftly turned, lifting my bow and arrow and just as soon letting my arrow fly at the Apollo girl who was wielding a sword. The arrow made contact—her breastplate flashing red—just as I nocked another arrow and heard more running footsteps behind me.

I quickly turned before letting my next arrow fly, too. It made contact with his helm, another flash of red as I nocked my third arrow.

To my left I saw high movement. Another Apollo camper standing on a branch in a tree, aiming their own arrow at me.

I sidestepped their arrow before launching mine.

Another red.

I nocked my next arrow as I looked over my shoulder, to see an Apollo camper just as he threw a spear at me. I was fancier with my dodge this time, spinning out of the line of the spear before raising my bow and letting my arrow fly once I came out of my spin.

Red.

I nocked another arrow, sounds of rapid footsteps coming from behind again. Another Apollo camper. She had the axe. Before she could even think about throwing it, I launched my arrow.

Red.

I nocked another arrow as another Apollo camper sprinted out from behind a tree. He had a sword and I had to take a few more moments to line up the shot because he was moving, dodging and weaving between trees.

Red.

A different Apollo camper appeared mere feet away from me with their bow and arrow as I nocked another arrow, but he made the mistake of coming at me from the direction their sibling had run and I easily shot at him.

Red.

Yet another Apollo came at me from the same direction only farther away. He'd learned from their fallen sibling to throw sooner and did. I was surprised he could throw so far, but wasn't surprised by the accuracy.

Somewhat prepared, I ducked into a roll (making sure to keep within my restricted area), the axe sailing over my head, and as soon as I was upright, nocked an arrow and shot.

Red.

Rapid footsteps behind me again. I spun, kneeling on one knee as I nocked an arrow. I shot at the first Athena camper I'd seen since the test began. Three things happened then almost simultaneously: Her breastplate flashed blue, I quickly nocked and shot another arrow, and a thud sounded from behind me, like someone had just dropped from a tree.

I swiveled around as soon as I saw that flash of red just in time to dodge a swipe from the other Athena camper's knife, which also forced me to take a step back. He was closer than anyone else had gotten to me today.

Another slash, another dodge, another step back.

I was sure his half-sister had been a distraction.

Slash. Dodge. Step back.

I'd expected and anticipated something thought-out from children of Athena.

Slash. Dodge. Step back.

I was about two steps away from my perimeter before I realized what he was trying to do.

I had to act now or I'd fail this exam.

Slash. Dodge. Step back.

He wasn't giving me time to nock an arrow!

But I refused to fail. I was going to prove to these Apollo campers that I was just as good, if not better, than them. I was going to prove to Apollo that I _was_ his daughter.

I threw my bow into my right hand and threw my left hand up to block his slash before kicking him square in the chest. His breastplate flashed white and he stumbled back, looking slightly surprised. This lasted about a second before he threw his knife at me.

It was a twirling blur and I sidestepped throwing my bow back into my left hand, while also leaning my head slightly to the left, just in time. It flew past my ear, scraping the metal of my helmet it had come so close. As soon as it passed me I reached back for another arrow in my quiver. While I did this, my opponent pulled out another knife.

I nocked my arrow as he started to run at me. I had to take a step back, putting me at the boundary line, but I raised my bow just as he threw a swipe at me. Almost simultaneously I let my arrow go and leaned back just enough that the knife, and his hand holding the hilt, flew straight over me in an arc.

I quickly straightened up, automatically reaching for another arrow. There were none left and, at first, I panicked before I realized that what I was seeing in front of me was the Athena camper's helm fading from having just flashed red.

I sighed and relaxed.

It was over and I hadn't stepped out of my boundaries.

There was no cheering, though, or "good jobs!" or pats on the back. We simply moved onto the next person. I traded my bow for a sword, then an axe (admittedly, I didn't use this weapon often), then a knife, then a spear before I went back to a bow and arrow, and so on and so forth.

The whole class was exhausted afterward, even with that break in between. I was slower than the rest at taking my armor off. Chiron stayed behind.

"You did well today," he commented as we started walking at a leisurely pace out of the forest.

I shrugged. "Just comes naturally to me, I guess." I mumbled, thinking about my brother. He'd been claimed by Apollo. I hadn't been. It was an awkward moment for everyone. An indefinite-lasting awkward moment. But no one would mention it. Not even Chiron. It had almost become an unspoken rule, taboo to speak about.

I don't know why. Why Apollo hadn't claimed me, too. Why no one wanted to mention or bring it up. At this point, I didn't think I wanted to know either. But it was something that'd happened.

Even if people hadn't known Dan was my brother, or couldn't see the resemblance, if they'd been watching, they'd surely figured out who my godly parent was. I excelled at archery, making to the masters' class faster than even some of the Apollo campers. A majority of Chiron's class today had been filled with campers who were at least three or four years older than me _and_ year-rounders, including the two Athena children.

Still, no one said a word. I found I preferred it that way.

"The harpies wanted me to mention to you…" Chiron started after a moment of silence. I sighed heavily and he trailed off. "Listen, Tori, I know you want to train with as many weapons as you can, but they're becoming tired of being… well, being—"

"Turned to dust," I deadpanned.

"Archery is a great skill to have." Chiron continued practically over me. "I think knowing it well and having sufficient skills in swordsmanship, a spear and a knife will do you fine. Not to mention I've gotten word from… some of the other campers you've been training in hand-to-hand combat." He gave me a sidelong glance at he finished his sentence.

I met his gaze for a moment. "I know," I said, finally having to look away, down at the ground. We'd had this conversation before. Archery came naturally to me. I'd found, while training here, that I also liked the three weapons Chiron had just listed, so I trained with those, too. "I just…" I lifted my hands, seeing a familiar celestial bronze letter opener in my hands. I fisted them and the image dissipated. "I _want_ to do this. I want to know how to protect myself, should I run out of arrows. Or my bow breaks. Or it's taken from me. I want to be able to defend myself, worst case scenario."

I had nightmares. A lot. So I'd go to the amphitheater to train in the middle of the night. This meant getting in to trouble with harpies. I mostly just dusted them. Well, okay, I _always_ dusted them. Which was becoming annoying to Mr. D, the harpies and Chiron.

I was never punished by Chiron or Mr. D, because neither of them had actually _seen_ me. No solid evidence, no punishment. They only knew because the harpies probably told them after reforming.

Chiron was silent for a long time. I looked up at him. His face was contemplative, deep in thought.

"I can't fault you for that," he finally said quietly as I turned to face forward again. "However, that doesn't necessarily mean you can go and break camp rules. We have those in place for a reason."

I looked back up at Chiron. "Maybe if you just told them—"

"I cannot," he interrupted. "If I let you off with a free pass, then I would—"

"—would have to give everyone else a free pass." I finished. "I know. It doesn't hurt to ask."

"For the hundredth time?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

I blushed and looked away again.

"Just try to tone it down, Tori, okay? Stay in your cabin after dark. Remember what I told you when you get anxious or restless?"

"Yes," I sighed. "I try, honestly, I do."

There was a pregnant pause as we continued our walk.

Chiron spoke again as the armory came into view. "Just don't get caught by the harpies anymore."

My head snapped up at Chiron's suggestion. He was no longer looking at me, but I could see he was trying to hide a smile.

"Thanks, Chiron," I said. "I'll see you at dinner."

"Goodbye, Tori," he said, nodding at me before cantering off.

I sluggishly put my bow and quiver of arrows away before slogging over to the Hermes cabin.

It was just as crowded and loud as it had been when I left. I rubbed my temples as I made my way through the crowd and tried not to step on anyone or anything. I wasn't trying very hard, though, considering how tired I felt. It was a miracle I _didn't_ step on anything.

My ears perked when I heard Luke's voice. I automatically looked to where his voice had come from (a bad habit I'd developed). He was sitting next to Percy in his little spot on the floor. I wasn't quite sure what Luke had said because I'd really only heard the tone and timbre of his voice. It'd been harsh and bitter.

Another bad habit I'd developed: whenever Luke was upset, I'd pick up on it straightaway. I noticed he did the same with me. We were never able to hide when we were upset from each other. It was an annoyance only a little bit, in that initial moment he asks me what's wrong, but nice the rest of the time.

"Don't worry about it, Percy." Luke continued, his voice lightening, but I could still hear the tense edge to it. He was forcing the lightness. "The camper's here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."

I continued to my bed and plopped down on it, my head where my feet usually where when I slept. I laid in a semi-supine position, throwing both my arms over my face. I was half-asleep, my head swimming and pounding I was so tired, as I continued to listen to Luke and Percy's conversation.

Percy said, "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material." I sighed. Of course as soon as I'd come back I'd hear the boy himself talking about the gossip going on around camp. That was probably my punishment for eavesdropping. "Then Annabeth…" Percy continued. "Twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"

"I hate prophecies." Luke answered flatly.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked totally oblivious. I flinched. He was straying into dangerous territory.

"Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else." Even falling asleep, I could hear the harshness in Luke's voice. "The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests."

I sighed again, remembering when he'd come back as I drifted into sleep.

Remember, when I'd said it'd taken a long time to get Luke to smile genuinely after he came back from his quest? It took me exactly a year and a day. (Even then, since that day, I'd only managed genuine smiles once, maybe twice every month.)

When he came back, for a whole week, he avoided me.

At that point in our relationship, we hadn't told each other our deepest, darkest secrets. We'd grown much closer in those last three years, but it wasn't the trust-each-other-inherently kind of close. It was just a friendship kind of close. We saw each other and complained about how crowded the Hermes cabin was, we had classes together, he helped me become more skilled at swordsmanship, and he'd at least told me a little about why he was so mad at his own father when Dan was claimed and I wasn't (something bad had happened to his mother and Hermes hadn't been there to help).

The reason he had such a scar was because he refused to drink nectar, refused to eat even the tiniest amount of ambrosia. He refused Chiron's help, the Apollo campers help. I had even offered to help, though I'd never done healing since I'd gotten here. I'd seen some of the Apollo campers do it before, I didn't think it'd be that hard to figure out.

He still refused.

He trained harder and was angrier than before. It was so difficult to see such a change in him like that. But I was there for him as much as I could be because he seemed more distant, too. I made sure to constantly remind him of that fact, though, to make sure I was getting through to him. I didn't think I was, because he didn't want to talk about what had happened with me. I wasn't sure if he told Annabeth, I didn't really care (or so I thought), but I wanted to just talk to him in earnest, so he wouldn't keep his emotions bottled up.

It wasn't until the end of last summer did he actually smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners, his eyes lighting up in the way that took my breath away.

"Eleven, fall in!" Luke's voice shattered through my dozing thoughts and I opened my eyes, blinking. I didn't move from where I was lying on my bed through. I was still as exhausted at ever. I didn't _want_ to move. I wanted everyone to go to dinner without me and let me sleep, alone, here, in peace and quiet, _for once_.

After a few moments of scuffling feet and chattering demigods, the noise died down. There was a moment of silence, in which I didn't budge, before I heard footsteps approach me. I still didn't move.

"Tori," Luke's voice came from above. I ignored him. "Tori, I know you're not asleep. It's time for dinner."

I flopped my arms away from my face, sprawling them out on either side and looked up at him. He was standing slightly over me with a hand resting on the top bunk. One of his eyebrows was raised in a silent question.

"I'm too tired, carry me," I joked. Luke's eyes widened before he blinked, the slightest of blushes staining his cheeks. Chuckles and giggles rushed through the waiting Hermes cabin behind him. Luke looked away from me and cleared his throat, struggling for a moment to get his cool back.

As he did this, I reached forward and up to grasp the top of the end of the bed frame above me, before lifting myself and swinging off the bed, forcing Luke to take a step back. I straightened my shirt before turning to face him.

"By your leave," I said, slightly bowing toward him while waving my hand toward the door in a flourish.

Luke glared at me through narrowed eyes, but there was a smile on his face. Without another word, he started toward the door, the rest of the half-bloods falling in. I was right behind him because it went by seniority.

Together, the Hermes cabin headed to the dining pavilion for dinner.

* * *

**I’d like to credit Catching Fire (the movie) for giving and helping me with the idea of what to do for Tori’s masters’ archery class. The scene I used as a blueprint/guide was when Katniss was in the training arena and showing off her archery skills in that rectangular box with those orange lasers that created orange holograms.**


	3. How Serendipitous

I never really liked eating in the dining pavilion. It wasn't that it wasn't pretty or that the food was bad. It was the fact that the Hermes cabin barely fit at the table. Personal space? A thing of the past.

We all squished together, to try to give room for everyone, but I knew the people at the end had to sit with half their backside hanging off the edge. That's why I tried not to sit on the edges anymore. I learned this the hard way. Not that I really had to worry about being pushed to the edge, though, because Luke usually saved a seat for me next to him. Also, I was right behind him in line, so I got to the table pretty quickly.

Tonight, he still saved me a seat, with Percy on his other side, only the new camper had the unfortunate luck of sitting on the end.

We raised our glasses to the gods and then the food was brought forward. As tired as I was, my stomach was growling for food, nourishment, sustenance to replenish my empty energy reserves. I'd missed lunch because I'd decided instead of eating something and preparing for my archery class like a normal person would do, I was huddled in a ball, in my cabin, on my bed.

So I guess it was a good thing I'd come to dinner, as much as I didn't want to. With the table being too crowded and the Ares cabin behind me, it wasn't the best, most pleasant experience ever. I'd gotten used to it, that didn't mean I liked it.

I also tried to tune Luke and Percy's conversation out as much as I could. Kind of hard considering I always honed in on Luke when he was speaking and the fact that I was sitting right next to him, but I tried. Besides, he was just showing Percy how things worked around here—when they got up to give offering to the gods, I did the same—so their conversation was going to be boring and routine.

At the end of dinner, with a majority of the campers having finished eating, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor to grab our attention.

Mr. D then stood up letting out a sigh loud enough you could probably hear it from a mile away. "Yes," he drawled. "I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

Behind me came the cheers and shouts of the Ares cabin. I hunched my shoulders a bit, slightly afraid I'd get hit by something.

"Personally," Mr. D continued making his voice louder than the cheers. "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you we have a new camper today." He sounded absolutely bored out of his skull. "Peter Johnson."

Chiron leaned over to murmur in Mr. D's ear while some people from cabin eleven snickered.

"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected not sounding embarrassed or sorry at all. "That's right. Hurrah and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

All the campers cheered as they got up from their tables and started toward the amphitheater. I stayed seated, picking at the remnants of food on my plate. Luke brushed my shoulder with his hand as he left and I put my hand on top of his briefly as it was sliding off my shoulder, but didn't look up at him.

The pavilion became silent. Someone cleared their throat and my head snapped up to see Mr. D and Chiron still at their own table. Probably waiting for me.

Mr. D was outwardly glaring at me, daring me to disobey rules (although, I didn't think going to the bonfire was a required activity at camp) and Chiron was giving me a concerned but stern look, reminding me of our conversation about following the rules and not dusting the harpies.

I dropped my head back to my plate, wiping my fingers free of grease and quickly stood up, trudging past the amphitheater, where the Apollo kids had already started playing one of their songs, and to the cabins. Neither Chiron nor Mr. D tried to stop me so I continued on.

I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

…

I wasn't sure if I was more annoyed with Percy or myself for noticing Percy.

I didn't like gossip. I didn't like idle banter. I didn't like rumors. So the fact that everywhere I went around camp I felt like I was bumping into Percy constantly was staring irk me. Notwithstanding the fact that he was in the Hermes cabin.

Don't get me wrong. Percy seemed like a sweet boy, innocent, kind… I don't know, a twelve-year-old! It was just… I'd been trying to avoid all this drama. I thought I'd been managing pretty well, but I was wrong. I still heard about how the head counselors were discussing who Percy's godly parent might me, how Percy wasn't good at this or that, or shot Chiron with an arrow. He had been all the camp could talk about while he was unconscious and now that he was conscious, it only grew worse. (What I was expecting, though, honestly?)

Not only that, but there were whispers of another rumor going around along with "the Big Three" rumor following Percy. It had something to do with a theft, but that was all I really heard by accident. If anyone knew more information and talked about it while I was around, I hadn't been paying attention.

Anyway, the week continued on and I couldn't seem to get away from the gossip. Or Percy. I felt like I was always passing him as I hopped from activity to the next. I'd occasionally bump into him on the canoe lake, too, because I liked to paddle out to the middle and practice my guitar, think, maybe take a light nap. I suppose I could've stopped going onto the lake if I didn't want to see him there, but it felt like the only time I could get some peace and quiet away from the buzzing camp, away from the crowded Hermes cabin. Besides, it wasn't like we talked, he was just there and I was just there.

It was just annoying seeing him all the time and then turning around and hearing someone talk about him.

And it wasn't just passing him or bumping into him on the canoe lake. I had an activity right before him, which was wrestling with the Ares kids. Although, I'd convinced the Ares cabin to help me train in hand-to-hand instead of wrestling. That's what Chiron was talking about when he brought up my training.

I don't know that he or Mr. D like it so much that I was changing the curriculum, however, neither of them did anything about it, so I figured I was okay.

When I say hand-to-hand, I don't just mean fighting without a weapon, I mean learning to fight and disarm someone with a weapon, where I had none. It was a bit extreme and I'd been wounded more than enough times doing it before I started getting better at it, because they did _not_ go easy on me, but it was something I'd wanted to do. And I was getting much, much better at it.

Of course, getting the Ares kids to agree to teach me was no easy task in the first place. Actually, the events that transpired before I asked them to do that for me were completely unintentional.

We were playing a game of capture the flag. I'd only been at Camp Half-Blood for about a month. Still, somehow I was landed with the task of guarding the flag with another teammate. The game had begun a bit ago and we'd managed to take some of the other team's people captive.

Suddenly, out of the gloom, came the noise that sounded like a large animal barreling through the underbrush. The other camper, also from the Hermes cabin (though he was actually a son of Hermes named Chris Rodriguez) and I exchanged a confused glance before turning to face whatever was coming.

I nocked an arrow and aimed to the general area the noise was coming from. My heart pounded in my chest, blood roared in my ears and then out of the darkness we finally saw what was coming.

It was, in fact, not a wild animal or monster, it was a group of Ares kids. Just as bad. The five of them had created a wall of spears and swords, knocking away our defenses as far as I could tell. I mean, it would explain how they got past our team, unless the whole of our team was all on the other side for some reason or another.

Clarisse was in the very middle, with her electric spear. She had a wicked mean grin on her face.

Gods, this was going to suck. I wasn't even sure if only two of us could defend the flag unless backup came. In any case, we had to try.

I shot my arrows at their hands, trying to knock their weapons out of their hands. It was harder because they had shields, but Chris distracted them long enough for me to hit my target. I managed to get three of them, before Clarisse's other sibling, Abby, I suddenly recalled, charged at me. I could only hope Chris would be able to hold his own with the three while I dealt with Clarisse and Abby.

Abby came at me first, because she was the closest, while Clarisse ran around us toward the flag. I thought about chasing her but couldn't because there was no doubt as soon as I turned my back I'd be hurt or knocked unconscious.

I ducked and rolled out of the way as Abby slashed her sword at me. I managed to notch an arrow before she swung at me again, narrowly avoiding being sliced in half. I raised my bow as soon as her sword had gone past me and shot my arrow at her (making sure to aim for her armor). She tried to raise her shield to block it but she was just shy of it, diverting its path with the edge of the shield. It made a _ding_ sound as it hit her helm before ricocheting off the helmet and landing next to her foot.

I hadn't built up the courage to aim for anything exposed. I didn't want to hurt anyone else, even if they didn't grant me the same courtesy. It just didn't feel right. After all it was just a game—a game they took _way_ too seriously. I only participated because it was good battle practice and I didn't want to blamed for losing the game.

Abby swung at me again, not even fazed by my arrow, and I ducked, letting out a frustrated growl. I need to go after Clarisse or she'd get the flag! I wasn't sure what I was thinking, but I had to get away from this girl, so as I stood up I took my bow and smacked her right across the face. This stunned her long enough for me to disarm her before tripping her up to make sure I had time to run after Clarisse.

Though we couldn't be within a ten yard radius of our flag, I only had a run a little bit to see it. It and Clarisse starting to pick it out of the ground. I had no idea where Chris had one off to. Or where the other Ares campers were. I couldn't exactly worry about them right now.

I swiftly nocked an arrow and shot right between the gap of her hand and the flag's pole. Right after I let my arrow go I ran up to her and got within hitting distance of her just as she spun around eyes wide. I tried to hit her across the head with my bow like I did with Abby but she ducked out of the way.

She jabbed at me with her electric spear as she came out of her role and I jumped back, next to the flag. I needed something to fight back with. Bow and arrows could only go so far. They weren't very good for close-range things.

I glanced back and forth between Clarisse, who was advancing, and the flag. The flag! I hadn't thought to grab another weapon other than my bow and a quiver of arrows (stupidly, I admit) so this would have to do. I wasn't sure if it was against the rules, but it wasn't like I was trying to move the flag. I was keeping it in the vicinity of our designated area.

Dodging another jab, I grabbed the flag out of the ground and spun it around, trying to hit Clarisse with the pole. She easily blocked my attack with her shield before jabbing at me again. I deflected with the flag. I was about to try another hit when Abby showed up, looking really pissed. Clarisse saw this small moment of distraction and instead of grabbing the flag out of my hands she thrust her spear at me.

I barely had time to think about what I was going to do. The pole was too heavy to move quick enough to deflect her attack and there was no way I was going to be able to use my bow and arrow.

So, I did the sensible thing, I dropped the flag and caught the shaft of the spear just below the tip before she could strike me.

Either way, it had the same effect as if she'd hit me (in retrospect, I probably wouldn't have been so badly wounded if I'd just let her hit my breastplate). Electricity shot through me, stealing my breath and making my body tingle caustically. I let out a strangled cry that cut off. My knees buckled, but I couldn't let go of her spear. I was trying, trust me, I was _trying_ , but my fingers wouldn't unfurl. My hands seemed stick to the shaft and electricity just kept zipping through me.

Honestly, I was surprised I'd even survived that, considering that would've probably killed a normal human being. But, then again, I wasn't exactly normal. Still, my body functioned in a way that non-demigods' bodies did, for all intents and purposes. It should've stopped my heart.

Instead, I blacked out. Finally.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in the infirmary. My whole body felt sore, like I'd just done the Ironman triathlon three times consecutively. My ears buzzed and I felt too warm, like I'd developed a fever. Probably due to ingesting too much nectar and ambrosia, I decided.

My vision swam. I blinked hard to clear it.

"You're awake!" someone exclaimed from beside me. My eyes flickered over to my left to see who it was. I wanted to smile but that hurt too.

"Luke," I croaked. He looked relieved to see me finally awake. My eyebrows furrowed. "How long?"

Luke's own eyebrows furrowed. "Almost a week."

"Huh."

Someone else cleared their throat. It was rough and impatient-sounding. I tried to lift my head but found I couldn't hold it up for very long, so I struggled to get into a sitting position. Luke started to protest, but I glared at him. My body protested, too, but I ignored it and managed to sit up. I was panting with one arm wrapped around my middle, my other hand grasping Luke's, who'd also put a hand on my shoulder, but I had sat up.

That's when I realized I had an audience. I wanted to say the whole camp was there, at the end of my bed, crowing around it, making a wide semi-circle, but that might've been exaggerating. It _felt_ like the whole camp had come.

I looked around at all of them.

"…what's going on?" I asked slowly.

"Chiron said I should apologize," Clarisse mumbled, pouting, her arms crossed. Her eyebrows were smashed together and she was glaring me. She was standing right at the end of the bed. "So I'm sorry." She paused. "But, honestly, I don't see why I have to do this." She flung her arms out and shifted her weight to her other foot. "You're the one stupid enough to grab the spear."

"Clarisse," Chiron scolded, who I then suddenly noticed. He was standing off to the side of the crescent-shaped group of campers. I'm not sure how I'd missed him, he was still in centaur form.

"It's fine," I sighed, sagging a little, my energy gone already. "She's right. It was stupid of me to grab the spear." There was a pause. "So why is everyone else here?" I demanded, looking at all of them again. Well, I was glaring now. I'd become some sort of spectacle and it was making me uncomfortable. I just wanted to go back to sleep without a bunch of eyes watching me.

Someone from the crowd spoke up. "Clarisse, apologizing? Had to see it for myself." I couldn't tell who it was because the group was so large. The group murmured assent.

"Well, she did so you can all leave now." I muttered. I was surprised Chiron hadn't ushered them as soon as they started gathering.

"What was it like?" another camper from the crowd called out.

"What was _what_ like," I half-growled as Chiron said, "All right, there's nothing more to see. Why don't we let Tori rest—"

"Holding onto an electric spear," the same camper interrupted Chiron, who opened his mouth about to scold the group but I met his eyes and stopped him.

I turned back to the crowd and, keeping a completely straight face, I answered, "Shocking."

The group stared back at me, blinking. Silence spread through the infirmary. I think they were trying to decide on whether they should laugh or groan. Even Clarisse looked stunned at my comment.

"Oh my gods," someone murmured with barely contained laughter in their voice, finally breaking the silence. No laughter followed, but I think they were still trying to decide if they should or not.

I did an awkward, sore bow and gave them a sarcastic smile.

I said, my voice just as sarcastic as my smile, "I'll be here all week." I let that sink in. "For now, show's over. Please leave." Without waiting for an answer, I flopped back down on my cot and turned over onto my left so I wouldn't have to look at them (which my body didn't like one bit).

Luke was sitting on the edge of the cot across from mine. I didn't mind having to see him. His blue eyes sparkled with amusement and his lips were pulled up in a smile. He was also shaking his head. Those blue eyes rolled and I winked at him as I heard Chiron shuffling the crowd back outside.

I would later find out that I'd earned a grudging respect from the Ares cabin. I thought for sure they'd turn me into a laughing stock, the most moronic of the morons, for grabbing an electric spear. Instead, they sort of came to like me…? I mean, it could've been because I'd been "brave" enough to grab an electric spear. It could've been because I hadn't been claimed yet and they maybe thought I could be a daughter of Ares. But as I said earlier anyone who wasn't paying attention wouldn't know I was definitely a daughter of Apollo. A lot of the campers paid pretty good attention, which included the Ares campers.

Whatever the reason, I didn't question it. I used it to my advantage. I hadn't known at the time that I'd want to train in hand-to-hand, but when the idea popped into my head I discussed it with the Ares kids before one of our wrestling classes and they'd agreed.

It would be the Athena cabin that labelled me as an idiot for doing what I did. Which made sense. I learned that fact from Annabeth, because she's the one who had trained and still was training me to fight with a knife. (I took sword lessons from Luke, obviously, and spear lessons from Clarisse.) It wasn't, however, their style to announce it to the whole world that I was an idiot.

Anyway, that's how the week passed. I was becoming more and more annoyed with everything in general and Percy was getting special attention. I couldn't wait until the summer ended and a majority of the campers went off to go to school or whatever they did if they weren't year-rounders. The camp would be quieter and so would the Hermes cabin.

Honestly, I'm not usually such a negative Nellie, but the circumstances under which Percy came to camp stirred up a lot of unwanted memories. Thinking about them too much was making me angry. So I suppose I wasn't actually angry at anything here—Camp Half-Blood had become my home, the half-bloods who resided in it had become a family (negating the fact that they were, technically, my actual family)—I was really only angry with myself. And Apollo.

I _was_ excited for this week's capture the flag game. I just wish I'd known that it was only going to make things worse.


	4. Turn for the Worst

It was a long rest of the week as I tried not to be angry with myself and tried to avoid Percy as much as possible. I'm not sure why I'd taken such a disliking to him. I suppose it was half because of the being angry at myself and half because he was surrounded by _drama_. Maybe not personally and/or directly, but there were plenty of rumors going around about him.

I hated drama.

As it was, before the capture the flag game, the Hermes cabin had a sword lesson with Luke as the teacher—no surprise there.

We started with drills on practice dummies, something I didn't like as much as dueling an actual person. But I followed along, warmed-up.

When we finally got to dueling, I was kind of annoyed that Luke would be pairing with Percy, but he was the newbie, and Luke and I had our one-on-one sessions already, so I really shouldn't have been. I was paired up with Chris (the guy who I had helped protect the flag with that fateful night I was electrocuted).

"Good luck," I told Percy when Luke had announced the partners. He was standing next to me. I wouldn't have talked to him otherwise. "Luke's the best swordsman since the last three hundred years."

I saw Percy swallow before he spoke, "Maybe he'll go easy on me." His voice wasn't at all confident in that statement.

I snorted before going over to Chris. He was waiting for me. It was pretty fun. Chris was a decent swordsman. I'd worked up a good sweat by the end, but I wasn't sure if it was more due to the dueling or because I wore almost-long-sleeved shirts in this heat. Probably both, honestly.

We took a quick water break and I went over to talk to Luke.

"How's Percy doing?" I asked, taking a sip of water. Luke had just finished pouring his water over his head.

"Needs a lot work," Luke chuckled, "but okay for his first week here. And with an unbalanced sword. Is Chris enough of challenge for you?"

I nonchalantly shrugged. "He's okay."

Luke glared at me playfully with a smile and I couldn't help but smile back.

Luke turned back to the class. "Okay, everybody circle up!" He called. "If Percy doesn't mind, I'd like to give you a little demo."

I gathered around where the other campers were gathering to watch.

"This is difficult," he started, looking around at everyone seriously, for they were trying to hide their smiles and suppress their giggles in coughs. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique." He then proceeded to demonstrate the move in slow motion. Percy's sword hit the floor.

"Now in real time," Luke ordered as Percy picked up his sword and got ready. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"

They began and surprisingly enough, Percy was doing a pretty good job holding his own. But as I watched I saw him get nervous as Luke pressed harder on him. Then, without notice, Percy tried to the move and it worked. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Everyone around was stunned into silence the only noise, Luke's sword clattering on the ground.

He actually did it. Now he was standing with his sword an inch away from Luke's unprotected chest.

He said the last thing I would've thought someone would say: "Um, sorry." He lowered his sword. I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry?" Luke asked incredulous, but happily surprised. A grin appeared on his face. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!" He encouraged picking up his sword.

Percy looked reluctant but Luke was persistent and they soon began another duel. It didn't last very long though, because as soon as their swords met, Luke performed the trick, quite nicely, and Percy's sword went skidding across the floor.

There was another pause as the arena fell silent once more.

"Beginner's luck?" I suggested for the sake of breaking the silence.

Luke relaxed and wiped the sweat off his forehead, appraising Percy carefully. "Maybe," he started skepticism clear in his voice. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword…."

The class ended soon after.

After that, it was some training on the climbing wall and then to the canoe lake to take a breather, maybe practice my guitar.

The one I owned currently had been my mom's (she played three instruments, guitar, violin and flute, but she was much better at the guitar). Having it was a bittersweet cocktail of emotions, because it brought about a lot of bad memories, but also good ones.

Most of them was her playing for me (and my brother): my favorite songs at the time or songs she'd composed herself. She taught me how to play at a very young age. (Dan liked the violin better.) Reading music came surprisingly easy to me and I really grew to love the sound of the guitar.

My mom also had a beautiful singing voice. She'd sing me to sleep if I was having a rough night or right after I'd woken from a nightmare. I requested her to sing completely a Capella a lot as I grew up, because I loved it when I heard the pitch in her voice change ever so slightly when she smiled. (The guitar drowned out the subtle change most of the time.) It was the most beautiful thing to hear and it always made me want to smile.

Her smile and singing could light up the night sky. At the very least, she knew just what to sing to make me feel better, whether I was angry, sad, anxious or just plain upset. I don't know if Dan would ever admit it, but I had a feeling he'd agree.

Living in the Hermes cabin you'd think owning a guitar would be hard. And it was for the first few weeks at camp. I was afraid that someone in there would steal it or enchant it or damage it some way. When it happened for the first time—got stolen, I mean—I brought fire and brimstone down on the culprit.

It was really a blur, what happened, I can't even really remember what I'd done. I do remember having to help the harpies clean the dishes that night, but I'd gotten my guitar back in one piece, no enchantments, no damage. That was the only time I was grateful for how fast word-of-mouth worked at camp, because afterward and to this day, no one has dared go near my guitar, let alone touch it. Weathered campers made sure to inform new campers of my capabilities if they messed with my guitar.

I ended up deciding not to bring my guitar with me, in the end, though. I felt I was taking a risk, bringing it out into the middle of the lake today, and if I damaged it, I'd have no one to blame but myself.

I decided to just sit out in the middle of the lake and listen to the buzz of camp. I didn't have to hear whispering voices or rumors. I could just close my eyes and listen to the breeze as it rustled the leaves and blew the scent of strawberries toward me, the sound of the waves of the lake lapping against the shore. I could soak up the sun and its warmth.

Someone else's canoe bumping into mine brought me back down to earth. I opened my eyes, blinking as they adjusted to the sun. It took me a moment to finally see Luke, sitting in another canoe he'd pulled up alongside mine. He was sitting so that he could face me.

I smiled and said, "Hey."

He smiled back. "How's it going?" he asked.

I shrugged and looked around, letting out a deep sigh. "I'm just… thinking."

"About?"

I looked back at him. "Percy." I muttered.

Luke blinked. "Why?"

"No one will shut up about him." I grumbled, causing Luke to smile. I paused before talking louder and a little faster this time, getting animated. "Besides, they're all over there giving him special attention, trying to figure out who is godly parent is. And I'm over here, knowing full well who my godly parent is, but I have to abide by camp rules and stay in the Hermes cabin. No one will talk about it. They all know. But no one will talk about it. Percy is getting more talked about than when Dan was claimed and I wasn't."

Luke feigned hurt. "You don't like it in the Hermes cabin?"

I shoved him playfully, rocking his canoe. He had to grab mine to keep from floating away from me, or falling into the water.

"So you're just jealous that he's getting all the attention," Luke said after bringing our canoes back together.

My face flushed. "No!" I exclaimed. "Why would I be jealous of a twelve-year-old kid who doesn't even really know how to handle a sword right?"

A big gust of wind picked up, carrying Luke's laughter toward me, rippling the water's surface and blowing my hair every-which way.

I glared at him through narrowed eyes about ready to push him into the water when he surprised me by leaning closer to me and brushing the loose hair behind my ear. Where his fingers touched tingled. He was still stifling chuckles and grinning, but he'd stopped laughing so loud.

"Or is it because _I'm_ giving him more attention?" he asked in a low voice, leaning even closer to me.

I felt my face turn hot. I bit my lip and averted my eyes. I felt like I should deny this, but the words got caught in my throat.

My averted gaze lasted about a second because Luke reached up again, only this time he caressed my face. My eyes went back to him as my heart skipped a beat before pounding double-time. His eyes were gazing at me with such intensity, swirling with a strong emotion I couldn't decipher, almost like the ice had melted.

Then he started leaning forward. I was panicking, not sure what to do. I wanted to pull away and run in the other direction, but we were in the middle of a lake. He kept getting closer and I had to close my eyes or become cross-eyed he came so close. I felt his breath on my lips.

One moment I was sitting in a canoe, in the middle of the lake, about to kiss my best friend. The next moment there's a sound of something splashing in the water and my canoe is tipping dangerously to the side, taking me with it. Before I know it, I get a shock of cold as I plunge into the lake with a gasp. When I burst from the surface, gasping because it was such a surprise, and blinking water out of my eyes I see my canoe rocking back and forth, floating away from Luke's.

Leaning precariously on her elbows on the side of Luke's canoe is a naiad. It took me a moment to figure out she'd popped up between our canoes, knocking me backward and into the lake. That was what the splashing noise had been. When I did put this together, I glared at her, but her back was to me as she started to talk to Luke, who was smiling politely at her, but looking uncomfortable.

I'd missed any and all classes on how to be a girl, but I was pretty sure that pretty naiad was flirting with him.

I thought about splashing her but she was a naiad and could probably splash me right back, in the face. I didn't want to get into a water fight with a naiad, I'd lose.

Instead, I swam over to my canoe, glaring at nothing in particular and started pushing it back toward shore, not bothering to get back in. I was already soaking wet from head to foot.

I glanced over my shoulder briefly to see the naiad still flirting with Luke, who looked like he wanted to call me back but couldn't get the words to leave his throat, that or he didn't want to be rude to the naiad. I was able to see the naiad's face, too, and I when I switched my gaze to her she smiled at me devilishly and winked. My mouth dropped and I turned back around, pushing my canoe indignantly.

I fought against another urge to splash her as I pushed my canoe ashore before trudging onto the sand myself. Just my luck, Percy was there. He was staring me but I couldn't decipher the look on his face or the emotion in his sea-green eyes. I wondered how long he'd been there. Did he see the almost-kiss or just the part where I went tumbling into the lake?

"What?" I snapped. He blushed and quickly looked away.

"Nothing," he mumbled.

I continued to march away from the lake, hands balled into fists, no doubt a very peeved expression on my face.

…

Friday rolled around. I avoided the canoe lake. Campers were getting excited for the capture the flag game tonight. Luke had told me in advanced that I was going to be with him and a few others, helping get the flag. I admit, it was kind of gratifying to hear that Percy was going to be used as the main distraction, considering Clarisse's grudge.

It's what had happened when I was going off to my masters' archery class, what the screams had been all about. Apparently, Percy had somehow drenched the whole girl's restroom in water, including its occupants at the time, except for himself. Those occupants included Clarisse and a couple of her siblings (and Annabeth). It was smart of Annabeth to use their anger against them.

Dinner was the usual, crowded, noisy occasion. I sat next to Luke who sat next to Percy again. This time, he was explaining how capture the flag worked as campers cheered and Annabeth and Clarisse ran into the pavilion with their respective flags.

Chiron pounded his hoof against the floor to grab the campers' attention.

"Heroes!" he started. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest if fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as a referee and battle field medic. Arm yourselves!"

With a wave of Chiron's hands all the equipment needed was spread out across the tables in front of us, as well as my weapons.

I grabbed my sword already in its scabbard (I'd learned from my encounter with Clarisse's electric spear), my bow and a quiver of arrows. I decided to go shield-less tonight, so my last thing to grab was a helmet with a blue horsehair plume, the color of Athena's team. The Ares had red.

Annabeth raised her sword. "Blue team, forward!" she ordered.

Everyone cheered and we started our way toward the south part of the woods. I made sure to stay with Luke. The red team shouted taunts at us as they headed to the north side.

Luke stopped a few yards from the boundary line, waiting for someone. It didn't take long for that someone to show up. It was Annabeth, along with a few other Hermes and Apollo campers.

"Ready?" she asked him just as the conch horn sounded in the distance.

Luke smiled and nodded. "Ready." he confirmed. "Let's go capture a flag, hm?"

Annabeth returned his smile and put on her invisibility cap, disappearing. Luke then turned toward the small team he had.

He instructed the Apollo campers and me to forge ahead, going a few minutes apart so as to not raise suspicion. Percy, was, after all, standing right at the border.

I leaped easily across the river and into enemy territory, along with the other Apollo campers. We had our bows drawn, on the lookout for any resistance. There wasn't much at first, but as I scouted further, Ares campers popped up. Which was a good sign—that meant the flag was close. Just because the rules said only two people could stand guard for the flag, didn't mean that they couldn't put a bunch of protection spanning around the flag. And it looked like that was exactly what the Ares cabin had decided to do.

Even better was the fact that we had long-range weapons. So we could hide behind trees and disarm them.

There were two campers at first and I took care of one, easily disarming him, as another Apollo kid disarmed the other. A third Apollo camper shot a stink arrow at both of them. We ran past as the two Ares kids gagged.

Luke and the rest of the group caught up to us just as the protection grew thicker.

But because there were at least five or six Ares campers already beating up Percy, that left the rest of the Ares cabin, minus the two we'd taken out, the four from the Hephaestus cabin, and the two from the Dionysus cabin. Though they were a good defense, there weren't a lot of them and it was fairly easy to overwhelm them with so many campers from the Hermes, Athena, and Apollo cabins.

Both the kids from the Dionysus cabin were locked in battle with two Athena campers. The Apollo and Hermes campers spread out and took on the remaining offensive to allow Luke to slip through their lines and grab the flag.

I engaged with one of the Ares kids, making sure to stay a good distance away. Close enough that she saw me, far enough away that I was able to use my bow and arrow. I did have a sword if needed, but right now the strategy I figured out worked.

See, I learned, when fighting someone with a shield, it's harder to disarm them when they can easily block your arrows (obviously). That's why you create a distraction and then aim for their weapon-hand.

I shot an arrow too low for her to move her shield, landing right between her feet.

"Missed me!" she sneered as I shot another arrow at her unprotected hand. She realized what I'd done but it was too late, the arrow connected with her hand and with a yelp she dropped her sword.

"Wasn't aiming for you." I called back, lowering my bow and smirking at her. She swiped up her sword and was about to charge me when I saw Luke sprint past her with their flag in hand. I quickly shot another arrow past her, between her and Luke because she'd tried to lunge at him.

"Hermes, fall back!" I shouted, launching another arrow at the Ares kid before sprinting after Luke. As I ran, I noticed the Hephaestus kids pushing the Apollo kids harder, keeping up with Luke. But it didn't matter, all that much, because all the Apollo kids had to do was hold them off until Luke got past the river. A few yards away, another Hermes camper joined me in flanking Luke. There were already excited shouts from our team as Luke dashed through the underbrush, around trees and finally flew over the river onto our side.

As soon as his feet landed, with everyone having congregated at the river, our team broke out into cheers of triumph. They started lifting Luke onto their shoulders as he displayed the flag that had now shimmered and turned silver, adorned with a caduceus, and grinned.

The moment was shattered by a howl that ripped through the cheers and the forest. My blood turned to ice and my stomach dropped.

No, not here.

Not again.

My ears filled with echoes of the woman's screams. I could barely hear anything else.

Heart pounding against my chest painfully, I frantically searched for the beast I knew all too well. I found it on a large rock outcropping. It was about as large as the first one I saw. Much larger than the second I encountered here, in these very same woods, when I first arrived at camp.

I followed its lava red eyes to Percy. I only vaguely thought this was strange. I looked back at the hound, it had its lips pulled back in a snarl.

I gritted my teeth and tried to concentrate, focus on breathing. The screams were getting louder, my vision was becoming hazy, un-focusing and refocusing on a horrible, bloody scene.

I blinked hard, forcing my mind to _focus_!

I looked back at the hound just as it leaped from its rock. Silent like a shadow but arguably deadlier than a cobra.

Despite the screams, despite the flashbacks, I pulled three arrows from my quiver and notched them. I wasn't a little thirteen-year-old anymore. I'd been training, I'd grown up. I was going to take this beast down. Or at least help.

As soon as the monster made contact with Percy, its claws easily sliced through his breastplate. The dark night made his blood look nearly black.

I let my arrows go around the same time others did. All three struck it right in the neck alongside about 30 or 40 others. The hellhound froze in what it was doing before falling over and shrinking into the shadows. I watched with disdain before turning and making my way out of the forest, sliding past enraptured campers, through underbrush, past trees.

I'd tuned out what they were saying, but Chiron's voice was hard ignore when it rang through the forest. I froze, the breath leaving me.

"It is determined," he announced. "Poseidon, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

I gripped my bow, swallowed hard and continued out of the forest. I put my things away before going to the beach. I didn't want to hear about what had just happened, because no doubt that's all anyone would be able to talk about until lights out. And until then, I wasn't going to set foot in the cabin.


	5. Can't Escape this Now

I sat down in the sand—well more liked plopped down—and brought my legs up so I could rest my elbows on my knees. I glared out at the ocean. High tide was coming in. The water lapped up to my shoes, going underneath, stopping at about where the arch was in my foot. I reached out with one of my hands and let the water wash over my fingers, before it pulled back out toward the ocean.

Percy. Son of the sea god. Son of Poseidon. The Big Three.

I let out a snort. Of course that silly gossip would turn out to be true. That poor twelve-year-old kid, thrust into a dangerous world made even more dangerous because of who his father was. At least he didn't have to worry about being ignored. As far as I could tell, he was Poseidon's only half-human son, so Poseidon really had no reason _to_ ignore Percy.

Someone's hand came down on my left shoulder. My left hand shot up and grabbed the person's wrist in a tight grip as I spun and stood up, my other hand coming up to grab my the person's neck. It was a bad habit I needed to break. It was one of the moves I'd learned from a year-rounder from the Ares cabin during our hand-to-hand combat training.

I learned when and how to use the moves the Ares kids taught me to their utmost usefulness from the Athena kids. They still thought I was an idiot for grabbing Clarisse's electric spear but agreed to help me with the moves.

My attacker's own hand came up to grab the wrist to the hand that was holding his neck, but lightly, not in a menacing way.

It took me a long moment to register who was standing in front of me. Who I was currently holding in such a way that cut off his airways. Despite this fact, he showed no discomfort. His blue eyes met mine solemnly, waiting, trusting.

I quickly let go of both his wrist and neck, taking a step back. The water lapped up against my shoes again. Luke's chest expanded as if he was taking in a deep breath.

"You okay?" he finally asked.

"I'll be all right," I mumbled, sitting back down in the sand. I stretched one leg out, keeping my other one closer to my chest so I still had a resting place for my arms.

"You sure?" Luke asked, sitting down on my left. I could feel his eyes on my face. I continued to stare out at the ocean.

I let out a heavy, shaky, weary sigh. I couldn't think of an answer to that. I wanted to lie but when I thought about answering, the truth rested on my lips.

Luke reached over to rub my shoulder. I flinched before I remembered that he already knew. I had nothing to hide from him.

He continued this for a few moments as I watched the waves come and go. His hand then moved to brush my hair behind my ear and over my shoulder, kind of like he'd done earlier this week. His fingers also brushed my neck, this time, and a shiver ran down my spine. My stomach knotted and I swallowed hard. I reached out to let the waves wash over one of my hand again. The coolness of the water was nice on my heated skin.

I actually had solid ground to run away on this time, if he tried to kiss me.

"Come here," he murmured, putting his arms around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. I shifted a bit and rested my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes and focusing on the sound of the ocean. It was a very calming noise.

We sat there for as long as we could. When curfew struck, Luke coaxed me back to the Hermes cabin. Campers were getting ready for lights out. I weaved my way to my bunk and slid onto my mattress. I gave Luke a small smile before turning over onto my side to face the wall that the bunk was pushed up against.

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to fall asleep, but I waited for the lights to go out and as soon as I closed my eyes I was out just as fast as the lights.

I had dreams. I shouldn't have been surprised. They weren't like demigod dreams, they held no special meaning, they didn't show me events from the past, and they didn't show me what some other demigod was up to that was tied to my Fate, or some god trying to get into contact with me. They were nightmares brought about by the hellhound that appeared in the woods today.

They were dizzying, leave-you-breathless kind of nightmares.

Coal black, the color of the fur of the hellhounds from the Underworld. That's how they always started out, coal black covered my vision. Unintelligible screams began soon after that grew louder and closer. I was able to make out what the woman was crying out when there was a spatter of blood red over the coal black.

" _Help! Help me, please! Apollo!_ "

Searing pain ripped through my left shoulder and down my arm, stopping at my elbow.

I jerked awake, my hand flying up to clamp over my mouth. His name echoed through my mind.

_Apollo. Apollo. Apollo._

I realized that the hand clamped over my mouth was shaking, that I was trembling. I carefully pulled my hand away and gripped the sheets with it, releasing my breath slowly, making a sound that sounded close to a hiss.

I took slow, deep breaths and squeezed my eyes shut, gritting my teeth.

I'd learned to put a hand over my mouth when I woke up from nightmares because the Hermes cabin had been getting tired of waking up to the sound of my screams. I'd found that putting my hand over my mouth was usually able to keep me from screaming long enough to gather my bearings and swallow my screams all together.

Movement in front of me caught my eye and I focused in on what my eyes were staring at. I'd turned over onto my other side. I was facing Luke, whose bunk was across from mine, against the opposite wall. He was awake, too. I figured he'd waved or something to get my attention.

Moonlight shone through the window between our beds, lighting up his face. His blue eyes looked bluer, his blond hair looked almost silver. Luke gazed at me solemnly.

He mouthed, "Can't sleep?"

I grimaced and shook my head. We had a lot of these late-night conversations. It was a common occurrence that we both couldn't sleep.

"You?" I mouthed back.

"Dreams," he answered. He looked at me for a moment before shifting on his bed, so that he was lying on his side, making room for another person on his bed. He put his hand down on the empty spot he'd just made before reaching his hand out toward me. I sat up slightly and looked around the cabin. It was quiet, filled with the deep, slow breath of the campers sleeping. It didn't _look_ like anyone was awake.

Slowly, making sure to keep quiet, I slid off my bed. I had to step between several campers lying on the floor between our beds, but I'd done this enough times that it didn't take long and I didn't wake anyone up in the process.

I slid onto Luke's mattress and he put one arm around me and used his free hand to brush my hair back, out of my face. I buried my head in the crook of his neck and gripped the front of his t-shirt with one hand like a lifeline. My other hand was fisted and pressed against my mouth, to keep me from crying and/or hyperventilating.

I was still trembling.

His hand continued to comb through my hair gently, soothingly. Soon he simply knotted his hand in my hair and massaged my scalp. I closed my eyes, my breath hissing in and out through my teeth.

Luke pulled me slightly closer. His one hand in my hair had stopped massaging, but his other hand was now gently tracing the scars on my shoulder and arm. It reminded me of the first time anyone had learned about my scars, without my permission. Of course, it had been Luke. This had been way before he quest, way before he'd gotten his own scar.

I had stitches that needed to be removed, but Chiron didn't want me to risk going out of camp's borders to a hospital to have the procedure done. Not after what had happened to my mother. I agreed with him, but because I didn't want to go back into the hospital more so than the fact that it would be dangerous.

So, he had one of the Apollo campers remove them for me. Obviously a girl, since I had to strip down to just my bra for anyone to be able to remove the stitches. Her name was Mia and she seemed really freaked about removing my stitches. Rightfully so, she'd told me herself she'd never done it before.

Mia was much older than me, eighteen at the time, and a weathered camper too. So she'd had a lot of practice with healing and such, just not removing stitches. Either Chiron taught her before she removed mine, or she asked Apollo for help. Whichever way she learned, she'd done a fine job.

We didn't talk much because I was afraid the why and how I got these scars was going to pop up. I didn't feel like talking about it or explaining. It was too fresh in my mind and much too personal to be telling someone I'd just met.

This had been done in the infirmary. Afterward, I thanked Mia before heading back to the Hermes cabin. It was the middle of the year, so there were only year-rounders and the camp was practically deserted. The Hermes cabin was completely empty for a change when I arrived back.

I went instantly to the bathroom and took off my shirt and camisole again. I don't know why I did, why I wanted to look at my scars that would remind me of such horrible things…. But I needed to see them. They were a part of me now. A part of my past, something that would always be with me. I guess, maybe I felt that looking at them would help me heal.

I turned, so my back was facing the mirror and looked over my shoulder at them through the mirror. Because they were pretty fresh, they were still very pronounced against my skin. I reached up with my right hand to run my fingers across the jagged, raised lines across my left shoulder and upper forearm.

It felt so odd. I poked and prodded at my scars. Where they were thickest felt strangely numb, but not. They tingled unusually. A sensation almost like pain blossomed where I poked, but at the same time, like I said, it had a numbness to it.

I sighed and turned back around to face the mirror. Enough looking at my scars. I didn't feel any different emotionally and suddenly felt stupid for even wanting to look at them in the first place. Also, my neck had been getting tired.

I reached for my camisole and started to slip it back on—I had my arms through it and was about to pull it over my head—when the door abruptly opened.

I was confused at first, not quite comprehending what'd happened, as I lowered my arms and lifted my head. It took me a few seconds to react, long enough to see Luke's eyes widen in surprise and then flicker down to my shoulder. I gasped and quickly spun around.

"Get out!" I yelled, grabbing the door handle and slamming the door closed in his face.

"I'm sorry!" he called through the door. "I didn't mean to—I mean, I should've knocked. I just didn't think—"

"No, you didn't." I interrupted him, keeping a firm grip on the door knob and leaning against the door for good measure.

"I'm sorry," he said again.

"Just go away," I replied.

It wasn't so much that I was embarrassed that a guy saw me in my bra, it was my scars. I didn't want anyone else knowing. I didn't want to have to explain what happened. Mia, Chiron and Dan were different. Mia because she'd sworn on the River Styx not to tell a single soul. Chiron because he's the one who'd talked to me and my brother about camp; he'd been there when I'd woken up. Dan for obvious reasons.

It was too horrifying to think about, that another person knew.

I waited until I heard his retreating footsteps and another door slam closed before I pulled away from the door. I could feel tears threaten to spill from my eyes, but I took a deep breath and held them back. I quickly dressed and exited the bathroom. I didn't want to stay in here, in fear that Luke would come back, so I grabbed a bow, a quiver and arrows, and went down to the archery range.

After that I pretty much avoided Luke as much as possible. It was kind of hard, considering there weren't a lot of half-bloods at camp during this time of year and we were in the same cabin. This was also after the incident in the woods, where I'd almost died, so we had started becoming friend. For about a month, I didn't talk to him, look at him, go near him, and just hoped he wouldn't question me about my scars.

And he never did. From what I could tell, he never told anyone else either. Not even Annabeth.

Finally, I worked up the courage to approach him again. He didn't seem upset that I'd avoided him for so long. Still, we were both walking on eggshells for about another month.

As we grew even closer, Luke became more and more nervous when he was around me, like he wanted to bring up my scars but was waiting for me to first. He tried to act normal, but I could see it just sitting there, in the back of his mind, lying in wait.

I couldn't stand it anymore. It was after dinner, as people were heading down to the bonfire. I touched Luke's arm before he could get up and leave and asked him if I could talk to him. We headed to the Hermes cabin and sat down in his spot on the floor, pressing our backs up against the wall. We kept the lights off and because it was winter, it was dark. There was a tiny bit of natural light coming through the windows, but I could only just barely see him. That was enough for me.

"That day you burst into the bathroom," I started.

"Yeah, listen, I'm _really_ sorry about that. Still." He started babbling nervously. "I should've knocked. I just wasn't thinking. Camp is so empty, you know, and I just… I don't know. I just—"

I grabbed his hand to cut him off. He looked at me nervously and swallowed hard. I gave him a small, reassuring smile.

"What did you see?" I asked quietly.

His eyes widened and he blushed, at least I think he did.

"Oh, nothing. I didn't see… anything. Honest. You slammed the door before—" He broke off and looked away, tapping his fingers against his knee.

I looked away too, dropping his hand and reaching up to feel those large, jacked bumps on my arm and shoulder. Luke didn't miss this.

He said, "Oh, that… well… I saw—yes, I saw… those." He paused and I was about to say something but he beat me to it. "But, you know, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. You always look so… sad, whenever you reach up like that. I don't want to make you sad. I don't want to make you relive whatever happened. But…" He took my hand again. "I want you to know I'm here for you."

"Thank you," I whispered. "And it's okay. I want to tell you."

And so I did.

It hadn't been easy. Even now, just thinking about it intensified my want to cry. It didn't help that there'd been a hellhound in camp tonight, or that I'd just had nightmares about what'd happened. I wanted to cry, but I didn't want to cry. Not right now, at least.

Instead, I breathed in Luke's familiar, comforting scent and tried to relax. I wanted to stop trembling. I wanted to get up and _move_ , go down to the arena and gut some dummies. Then I remembered my conversation with Chiron.

I focused back on my breathing. When that wasn't working because it was shaking, I focused on Luke's even breathing. It grew steadier and deeper, his hand stopped tracing my scars.

I fell asleep soon after him.

He woke up before I did. The sun was just coming up, lighting up the cabin in a soft yellow-orange glow. The cabin would soon be awake, so would the camp. It was against camp rules for two campers to sleep together like we'd been doing. So every morning, before anyone else woke, I'd go back to my bunk.

I shifted a little to be able to look up at Luke. He ran his thumb over my cheek. I thought he was going to kiss me for a scary, heart-fluttering moment, but he kissed my forehead.

I managed a small smile before I slipped off his bed and carefully made my way back to my bed. I laid down and looked over at Luke on more time. We gazed at each other for a long moment before he turned over onto his other side, facing the wall. I did the same. I closed my eyes but didn't sleep.


	6. Words that You Whispered

It'd had almost been a month, and _still_ Percy was all the camp could talk about. Though, it was more negative now. I'm not quite sure why, but people started avoiding him after he'd been claimed. The Hermes cabin even refused to take sword fighting lessons with him, so Luke had started training him one-on-one. I wasn't sure what that was all about, but I only went along with it, because three's a crowd.

Rumors about a stolen item circulated more often too, with storm clouds gathering around camp. It never rained here, because of the magic border, but looking at the clouds, the storm, I had a feeling not even the border could protect us from them.

It made me wonder what exactly had been stolen.

The rumors got even worse when Percy was called to the Big House and was issued a quest. The first quest in two years. I didn't know what to think about that. And to someone who'd barely had time to train. And a son of one of the Big Three, no less.

I suppose, though, being the son of one of the Big Three did that to you. He was more powerful than a lot of other demigods. It made sense.

I didn't pay this much mind, either. I found it better if I just focused on my training. Besides, that was what I wanted to do. Focus on my training, get better at my swordsmanship, dagger skills and spear skills. I also, obviously, practiced my archery skills, to keep them tuned up and perfected. I didn't want to get out of practice.

I was doing a pretty good job at this until word leaked that Zeus and Poseidon were fighting because Zeus was accusing Poseidon of stealing his lightning bolt. Which was pretty serious. It also made even more sense that Percy was involved, being the son of Poseidon. I knew, from Chiron, that gods couldn't steal other gods' items of power, but demigods could.

I didn't think that Percy had been the one who'd stolen the master bolt, but now he was retrieving it to appease Zeus and not cause a war.

My only concern was what was taking him so long. I couldn't quite remember when they'd left, but from the word around camp, I knew he had until the summer solstice, which was getting closer and closer. Still no sign that Zeus and Poseidon were any less angry, or that Percy had found the bolt and returned it.

I started getting really worried at that point. Fights were breaking out between the cabins, and it wasn't just yelling. It usually started with yelling, but became heated and turned into fist fights. Sometimes, if available, the weapons would come out. Chiron had to break up tons of fights, because the cabins couldn't seem to take a breather for a moment. Just as soon as Chiron managed to split some campers apart, more campers somewhere else were starting another scuffle.

I couldn't do anything without the threat of getting into the middle of it all. Something I really didn't want to do. I felt the need to take a side, but at the same time, I felt it just wasn't worth it. I mean, with impending war, I probably should've been way more distressed, but I just couldn't find it in me anymore.

I'd been at camp for a long time. I'd gone through heartache with what happened to my mother, I'd gone through a traumatizing experience with a hellhound before I knew that gods and monsters existed, and I'd gone through anger, sadness, humiliation and hatred when Dan had been claimed and I hadn't. Unless a real war between the gods started, I didn't feel the need to take a side and/or get into the fights the others campers were getting into.

Because a lot of the activities became even more hazards than before, I hung out on the porch of the Big House more often and watched the strawberry fields.

Luke came to join me one day. He stood awfully close. I didn't fail to notice.

"Hey," he greeted, glancing over at me.

I sighed. "Hey," I replied, looking away from the strawberries for a moment to look at him.

"Not going to join in the fights?" he questioned, turning to face me more fully. He leaned against the railing.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed, but a smile was pulling at the edge of my lips. "I could ask you the same thing, hot shot." I retorted, also turning, mimicking his stance. He glared at me playfully. My heart did a funny little thing, looking into his eyes. They seemed more crystal blue today.

A sly smile appeared on his face and I swallowed, feeling oddly nervous.

Without warning Luke stepped forward, taking my hand into his, his other arm coming around my waist and pulling me into him and dipping me slightly.

I squeaked and gasped, "Luke!" My eyes went from his hand holding mine to his arm around my waist before I looked back up at him. My breath caught. My face felt hot. I was hyperaware of where Luke's body came into contact with mine. My head reeled.

I tried to ask what he was doing, but before I could, he pushed me away—keeping hold of my hand—and spun me around in a little circle, like we were dancing, before pulling me back to him. Though, this time, his other hand come up to caress my face. His thumb stroked my cheek as he gazed into my eyes. His eyes were sparkling with amusement and love. Well, what I was pretty sure was love.

I didn't have a lot of time to contemplate this because he started leaning toward me. I was just as nervous as before. Half of me wanted to flee, but half of me wanted to stay. I wanted to kiss him.

The part of me that wanted to stay grew stronger and I found myself closing my eyes and pushing up on my tip-toes, to make things quicker. No fear of falling into the lake right before we kissed, this time.

Our lips brushed, but before anything else could happened, some called Luke's name.

The voice sounded familiar.

We pulled away and turned to look at where the voice had come from. Floating several feet across from us was Percy and Annabeth, though just their heads. I couldn't read Annabeth's expression, but Percy looked too stunned to talk. It could've been a trick of the light, but he looked like he was blushing too.

I stepped away from Luke, feeling my face turn hot.

"I think it's for you," I mumbled, awkwardly and slowly backing away from him. He looked slightly annoyed and disappointed that we'd been interrupted a second time. "I'll talk to you later." I quickly turned and walked off the porch, out of sight of the IM, not looking back and not giving him a chance to respond. As I walked away, I could hear Luke greeting Percy, Annabeth and Grover.

…

As the days past, things at camp become more and more on edge. The three had been gone for a while now, and they had contacted the camp about five days ago. Worse, still, today left them one more day to retrieve the stolen item.

Everyone was feeling it. Everyone was too tense to even fight each other anymore. That, or they were saving their strength for when the war did start.

Things tentatively continued at camp, but all the talk was about Percy (surprise, surprise)—whether he was would make it in time or not. Though, to be fair, I could barely focus, too. It wasn't looking so good for any of us.

The day of the summer solstice was upon us. War hadn't broken out and the weather seemed to have evened out. I wasn't sure what that meant, though. The expression, calm before the storm, ran through my head the morning I woke up.

I looked over at Luke, just as a habit, after I sat up. What I saw scared me. Luke was up already, but he was sitting with his back against the wall. He had his legs slightly pulled up toward his chest and was resting his arms on his knees. The top bunk was throwing a shadow across his face. From what I could see, he hadn't gotten any sleep and looked especially distressed. It was almost like he had a constant migraine that wouldn't go away.

At the same time, the way he was sitting, the shadow across his face, his glowing blue eyes glaring straight ahead, it was something out of the movies: a villain.

I'd only ever seen him this upset before, and that was after he'd come back from _his_ quest.

I wasn't sure what I was more worried about for the rest of the day, Luke or Percy.

I tried to ask Luke what was wrong, but he avoided me. Eventually, I gave up, figuring he'd tell me what was wrong in his own time. I trusted him enough to know that he'd tell me if/when he wanted me to know. As much as I was concerned for him, I knew I needed to give him his space, just like he'd given me after he saw my scars. So I did, and instead worried about whether or not Percy, Annabeth and Grover had succeeded.

The sun was setting and a war hadn't begun… yet. I was still waiting. But suddenly someone from the Athena cabin came running down.

"They're back! They're back!" he yelled before dashing off toward the hill. I squinted my eyes and looked closely. The first thing I saw was Thalia's pine tree and next to it appeared three figures. All the stress I'd been feeling lifted off my shoulders. They'd made it! They'd actually made it! They're the first since… well, since Luke.

Speaking of Luke…? Where was he? I looked around, but he was nowhere in sight.

I wanted to go look for him, but I didn't know where to start. Besides, the crowd that was running up from their activities was pushing and shoving me forward. I had to start jogging in the same direction in order to not get run over.

I'll admit I was kind of surprised to see everyone so eager to see them. I mean it's great they made it and didn't die, but not only an hour ago were they fighting and shouting at each other. It just seemed… odd. Then again, no war that could've possibly wiped out the human race, that was good.

As almost everyone from camp (Chiron, the naiads, the satyrs, the campers to name a few), went to meet the three heroes, they made their way down the hill and were immediately swallowed up by the crowd that was cheering and shouting with joy. I stayed a ways back, as the crowd started to move toward me again for the ceremonial burning of the burial shrouds, the laurel wreaths and the big feast.

It was pretty enjoyable, but this was overshadowed by my concern and worry for Luke. I still hadn't seen him, ever since the three's return, and it was starting to make me anxious.

After the big feast everyone went down to the bonfire. Probably the biggest bonfire I can remember since I first came here. It was the same songs and s'mores, but there wasn't going to be war, and even better they had managed to complete the quest and come back pretty unscathed. It was almost like we were celebrating life in general.

Luke finally showed himself, but as the summer wore on, he wouldn't speak to me. I tried to talk to him, not even about what he was upset about, but idle banter like we always did, but he would say he just remembered he had something else to do and run off before I could object. The only time I really saw him was during our one-on-one sword training, but he pushed me so hard, I never had time to actually talk to him. Afterward, he'd leave as quickly as possible before I could get a word in.

Needless to say, this didn't help my nerves.

He'd been acting strange ever since the summer solstice and I wanted _so badly_ for him to tell me what was wrong. I wanted to fix it. I hated seeing him so distraught and… angry. It was like when he'd returned from his quest all over again. But I couldn't fathom why he was so upset over Percy returning alive, and there being no war. And Annabeth—she'd returned alive, too. They shared a bond I couldn't even come close to sharing with Luke, he should've been ecstatic to know she'd survived.

I just… couldn't understand. And Luke wasn't letting me.

Time flew by, even though I wasn't having very much fun. Soon it was July.

July Fourth was the first time Luke talked to me after Percy, Annabeth and Grover had returned. He still looked upset and angry, but he joined me to watch the fireworks the Hephaestus cabin had put together for this year. It wasn't nearly as enjoyable as it could've been. We were both silent and the tension between us was thick. I wanted to speak, but I wasn't sure what to say. I was also afraid the wrong thing might come out and he'd ditch me.

Instead of enjoying myself, I pondered our relationship, because I was so confused. We'd become best friends, that was pretty clear. Then, twice, Luke had tried to kiss me. I knew what that meant. But now? Now he was avoiding me and not talking to me at all. What did that mean? If this was some kind of way of telling me he's not interested after all, he was doing a horrible job.

I glanced at him from the corners of my eyes. He was watching the fireworks, but his eyes were distant. His face was set in a permanent scowl, his eyebrows were furrowed. His eyes sparked with anger. Or it could've been the fireworks.

I sighed in time with the exploding fireworks so he wouldn't hear me before turning to look back up at the sky. I just didn't know anymore.

I was trying to give him as much space as possible, but not being there for him when he was clearly in distress was hard for me. It was stressful, because I was waiting for him to come to me. At the same time, how was I supposed to know if he was waiting for me? I mean, I suppose avoiding me made it clear, but what if deep down he really did want to talk about it? What if I wasn't pushing hard enough? On the other hand of that, I didn't want to push him too hard and make him angry with me, either.

Why were people so confusing?

July passed and Luke still hadn't spoken about why he was so upset. Gradually, his scowl lessened, but there was still that anger in his eyes he could hide from anyone but me (and possibly Annabeth). He started talking to me again, but it was still tense. I was always afraid I'd blurt something stupid out and he always made sure to stay far away from the topic of Percy's quest.

Before I knew it, it was our last night at the camp. I was a year-rounder, though, so technically it wasn't the last night for me.

Things were the same, only they weren't. There was chatter about what people would be doing over the year, idle banter, more rumors (I didn't pay attention to any of them, so don't ask).

We did the usual: food offering to the gods, eating, and then going down to the bonfire. Only this time we got our beads. I was usually really hyped to get my bead. It meant another year survived. I'd get to see another day. But tonight I wasn't, not only because I'd been emotionally strung out for most of the summer, but also because of the bead they chose.

"The choice was unanimous," Luke announced as I stared down at the pitch black bead with a sea-green trident in the middle. Not quite. "This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp"—it wasn't as bad as I was making it; I was still bitter—"and the quest he undertook in the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!" I closed my hand around the small bead as everyone, even the Ares cabin, stood and cheered. I stood but I stayed quiet. It was just going to be a painful reminder.

The next morning I got the usual letter informing me that I'd have to move out or get eaten by harpies, or tell the Big House I was staying all year. I'd have to remember to do that before I noon. I'd already gotten in enough trouble with the harpies, I'm sure they would've loved to eat me after the first time I dusted them.

I sat on the edge of my bed, holding the letter in my hand, thinking about all that happened this summer. It had been quite eventful, that was for sure.

I looked back down at the letter and sighed. I stood, ready to go over to the Big House and inform them I would be staying year-round, because if I didn't do it now, I don't think I'd ever get it done. I'd probably get so caught up in my own thoughts, I'd forget.

I opened the door and stepped out just as someone was stepping in. I gasped and veered back. Luke stood in front of me, looking just as startled, but it was quickly replaced with a small smile.

"Just the girl I was looking for," he told me quietly, stepping in and closing the door. I stepped back a bit more to give him room.

"Oh?" I asked, my voice slightly higher. I wasn't sure if it was from the nervousness and sudden fluttering in my stomach or because he'd just scared me half to the death.

Luke turned to face me, looking nervous himself.

"First, I want to apologize for how I acted this summer." he started. "It was just…" He trailed off, grimacing. "Rough. I… I wish I could explain more—about why and how—but I can't. At least, not right now. I just want you to know that I'm sorry for pushing you away."

Anger blossomed inside me, burning away the butterflies in my stomach.

"Well why can't you tell me?" I asked. "You can trust me, you know."

Luke stepped toward me, putting his hands on my shoulders. "I know," he said, almost feverishly. "I know, but… I just… I just can't!" He stepped away, and turned suddenly agitated. "I want to, Tori, because I _do_ trust you." He turned back to face me, his eyes softening. "I trust you with my life." His eyes hardened, like he was making a decision final. "But I can't. I won't." He started pacing, then. "Not right now. I'll explain. _Soon_. You're staying all year, again, right?" Luke stopped to look at me and I nodded mutely. He continued pacing. "Then right now isn't a good time."

"What's wrong, Luke?" I finally questioned, the anger shrinking. He looked jumpy, yet focused, like he was running through a crucial plan in his mind. Thinking about options and scenarios.

He waved his hand flippantly in my direction as he continued to pace. "Nothing's wrong."

I stepped toward him and grabbed his arm to stop his pacing. He looked at me, almost as startled as when we'd almost crashed into each other a moment ago.

"Why are you lying to me? Keeping things from me?" I hadn't meant for my voice to sound so wounded.

Luke's eyes softened again and he _really_ looked at me. My hand slipped from his arm as he turned to fully face me.

"I'm doing this because I care about you." he told me softly while reaching up to caress my face, his fingers knotting in my hair, his thumb stroking my cheek. His free arm wrapped around my waist and he pulled me closer to him. I tried not to squeak like a mouse as I stumbled forward.

"What do you mean?" I whispered, feeling breathless and dizzy.

Frustration flashed in his eyes. "I want to tell you. I want to tell you everything"—his grip on me tightened—"but I can't. It's for your safety, I promise. I'll tell you everything you want to know, in time."

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the fog.

"Luke, I don't know—" I started, breathlessly.

"Please, Tori, trust me." he interrupted. I could hear the desperation in his voice. This was serious. He was seriously doing this to keep me safe. But from what, exactly? Had he gotten himself into something… dangerous? If so, why and how? I wanted to know all these things. I wanted to get some answers, I hated being left in the dark.

But as I gazed into his pleading blue eyes, I started to feel that maybe it was for the best. Maybe… he really was doing this to protect me. I was afraid from what, because that meant he'd been in danger, too.

"…okay," I finally agreed. "For now. You have to promise me you'll tell me what this is all about, though, okay?"

Relief washed over his features and a small smile graced his face.

"I promise," he whispered before leaning down.

My heart raced, my stomach did a somersault and I pulled back slightly. My skin felt even more heated and my breathing had gone ragged.

"What are you doing?" I squeaked. Our face were so close that we couldn't see each other's eyes anymore.

Luke chuckled. With him being so close, it made my head spin.

He answered my question with his own, "What does it look like? Just say no." He started to lean down again, but I veered back slightly again.

"I-I have to get to the Big House." I stammered, suddenly remembering what I'd set out to do before I almost crashed into Luke.

"Okay," he said before kissing me. It was… everything I'd imagined and more, and much too short. Before I knew what was happening, Luke had pulled away and gone over to his bunk.

I spun around, my face flushed, my heart still pounding against my ribcage. My hands were shaking. Luke looked completely cool, which made me angry.

"What was that?" I asked, glaring at him.

He turned and smiled infuriatingly at me.

"You said you need to go to the Big House," he answered easily.

"You're a jerk," I told him, going over to him, grabbing the front of his shirt and pushing him against the bedpost holding up the top bunk, before standing up on my tip-toes and continuing the kiss.

In the middle of all this, a thought sped through my mind: At some point, I was going to have to invest in a watch.

I only wished I knew what would be coming after our first kiss. I wouldn't have let him go, if I had.


	7. This Path Before Me

Luke left a little after we kissed, but not before grabbing some things and shoving them into his gym bag. He was careful to do this quickly, almost like he didn't want me to see. I brushed this off, because I had other things on my mind. Like the fact that he'd kissed me. And what was our relationship now? Were we going to talk about this?

He told me he was going down the arena to do some training before giving me a chaste kiss and leaving. I was too stunned by all this to ask him if he wanted to talk about what just happened. By the time my brain even remotely started to reboot, he was long gone.

I sat down on the edge of my bed, waiting for my hands to stop shaking and my heart to settle down. This didn't work well, though, because I got edgy, just sitting around. The silence was starting to kill me, even though it had been something I looked forward to at the end of the summer. Now it was _too_ quiet.

I decided I'd got to the armory, grab a bow and a quiver or arrows and do some target practice in the woods. Training sounded nice.

About two year, I found that I really enjoyed shooting from the trees, hopping and jumping from branch to branch and shooting down targets, enemies or monsters. I had gotten quieter with my leaps, but I still needed a lot of practice. There had been a lot of falling, a lot of broken things, a lot of pain. But no pain, no gain, right? So that was what I decided I'd do in the forest.

First, to the Big House to inform Chiron I would be staying another year. I thought it a tad bit unnecessary to have to do it every single time summer ended, because I had no home anymore—Camp Half-Blood was my home, and Chiron knew this. I went along with it, because getting eaten my harpies didn't sound like a fun way to die.

After a quick trip to the armory, I went up to the where the forest began and started my climb.

Archery always seemed to calm me down. When I was holding a bow and arrow, I really felt in my element. Like I could conquer the world. When I held them, they became a part of me. The sound of an arrow shooting from my quiver and hitting a target was always satisfying.

I suppose it wasn't all calming. Thinking about it too much left a bitter taste in my mouth, only because it reminded me that Apollo hadn't claimed me when he'd claimed my brother.

My relationship with Dan had changed after that. With good reason. I tried not to resent him, because it wasn't like he wanted that to happen, but deep down I did. Still, I talked to him occasionally, but not as much as we had been when we were both in the Hermes cabin. An irreparable rift had formed between us after that. He also had other siblings that he could use as a crutch, to help him cope with being thrown into a world of gods and monsters.

I was left alone, so I turned to Luke. I think that's why we grew so close. I was looking for someone else to help me through this. Luke had been through much more than I had and when he and Annabeth stopped keeping to themselves so much, I found a friend in him.

Now, it seemed, I'd found a… boyfriend in him.

The only tedious thing about shooting at imaginary targets and monsters was having to go down to the ground to pick up my arrows. I didn't need to, because we made new ones each year. I felt bad, though. I wasn't using them on anything necessary, so it felt like a waste if I were to just leave them sticking out of the ground.

After a little bit of practice with my arrows, I focused on hopping from tree to tree, branch to branch as silently as possible. The leaves still rustled, but only like there was a slight breeze blowing through them and not like a large human was lumbering and stumbling through them.

I also listened for sounds of monsters, just in case. I paused and looked up at the sky. Beautiful blue, not a cloud to be seen. The sun was reaching the peak of the sky, signaling noon, or almost noon at least. It didn't seem like any monster would be out here in such heat. Even if it was a nice day out.

Even so, I continued jumping onto branches as nimbly as possible, occasionally shooting at a spot on the ground or a fluttering leaf. I knew well enough not to shoot at the trees or bushes. I'd encountered one angry dryad, who had a somewhat indirect part in breaking my leg. I had been trying to get from one tree to the next, but the dryad decided to turn into its human-like form. With no tree to catch me, I fell right onto my leg. Clean break, blood, bone sticking out of skin, the whole nine yards.

Later, after passing out, having my bone put back into place, passing out again, drinking so much nectar I thought for sure I'd spontaneously combust, and going through weeks of immobilized healing, she told me that's what I got for shooting at the trees in the forest. Having been at camp for three years prior I knew that there were such things as tree nymphs. The arrow I'd shot that landed in her tree had been a complete accident. She replied—when I'd told her this—that her poof-ing the tree out of existence had been an accident, too.

I made sure not to accidentally shoot any bushes or trees anymore.

Even now, jumping through them was a privilege and I didn't take it for granted.

When I found my stride, making even less noise, I started hopping and leaping, and even swinging sometimes, through the branches. It was exciting and adrenaline-inducing. I felt my ADHD kick into overdrive, sensing every little movement in the underbrush below and in the trees branches. I felt every little brush of summer breeze against my skin, every little caress from the leaves on my arms, face and neck.

I was having so much fun, I almost didn't hear the talking. When I did, I froze immediately, afraid they'd notice me. I mean, it wasn't like I was embarrassed or anything, this was just my alone time and I wanted to keep it that way if I could.

Thankfully, I couldn't see them, so that meant they couldn't see me. I could definitely hear voices now that I'd stopped moving. I was close enough to be able to make out a few words, but not everything. The voices sounded familiar, though….

One of them spoke, but they didn't speak long enough for me to be able to make out where I knew them from. The other spoke more and it was itching on the edge of my memory. Maybe if I got just a little closer.

Keeping my breathing shallow, I crept forward, making sure to make as little disturbance on the branch as possible. The leaves ruffled a bit, but not enough to bring attention to them. Not on a sunny, summer afternoon. If the two were too caught up in their conversation, they wouldn't pay any attention to some rattling leaves unless it was excessive.

As I got closer, I realized I did, in fact recognize the voice that was still speaking: Luke. And he sounded upset.

I paused contemplating this. I didn't want to just jump into the conversation, that'd be awkward. How would I explain how I got there? _Oh, I wanted to train too and was just in the neighborhood._ Yeah, like he'd believe _that_. I didn't think whoever he was with was going to believe it either. With that decided, I turned away and started to head back.

Only, suddenly, Luke laughed. But it wasn't his warm, melt-your-heart, make-you-smile-and-want-to-laugh-too laugh. It was humorless, cold. It sent chills down my spine. My pulse quickened and my breath turned slightly ragged. I stood precariously between two boughs, trying to decide if I was going to go back and try eavesdropping.

Curiosity finally got the best of me. Luke hadn't sounded like Luke. As he continued to speak, his voice became angrier. I could hear that now that I was really paying attention. This also shocked me. I'd never heard him that angry before.

I carefully picked my way even closer, until through the branches and leaves I saw them. Percy and Luke. They were on the other side of the ravine that separated the north and south parts of the forest. Percy was sitting on a rock outcropping, looking up at Luke, his green eyes filled with a mix of shock, anger, hatred and confusion. Luke was only partially facing me and because they were both in the shade of a tree, I couldn't read his expression.

Then I saw something big and black on Percy's shoe, creeping its way up his ankle. It definitely wasn't a bug.

I put a hand to my mouth and tried not to breath or move. I didn't want to make any noise or fall out of the tree.

Swallowing hard and making sure I wasn't going to go crashing through an empty spot in the branches, I took a step closer, onto another tree, in the shadow so I had the best possibility of not being seen. I leaned against and put my hands on the trunk, peeking out from behind it at the scene before me. I wasn't sure what was going on, but from the looks of everything and Luke's tone of voice, it wasn't good.

For now, though, I was going to watch, because I didn't want to interrupt this. To be honest… I was nervous about what Luke would do. He seemed so unlike himself. So… _enraged_. I didn't think he would hurt me, but… that thing on Percy's leg didn't look friendly in the slightest. I decided if Percy needed help, I couldn't just stand by, however. That was one thing I was one hundred percent sure of.

"—'Western civilization' is a disease, Percy." Luke was saying, now that I could hear him clearly. Thankfully, neither of them seemed to notice me. "It's killing the world. The only way to stop it is to burn it to the ground, start over with something more honest."

What was he talking about? Where had all this come from?

"You're as crazy as Ares." Percy provided, despite the thing on his leg. (What did Ares have to do with this?)

I couldn't see Luke's expression but his hands furled into fists. "Ares is a fool. He never realized the true master he was serving. If I had time, Percy, I could explain. But I'm afraid you won't live that long."

Right on cue, the gleaming black thing made its way up onto Percy's leg.

"Kronos," Percy said almost feverishly. "That's who you serve."

The air around the area grew colder. I almost took a tumble out of the tree.

_What?_

Something grew cold in my pocket. I reached in and pulled out a thin chain-link necklace with a single charm of a scythe. I stared at it confusion. When—?

"You should be careful with names," Luke cautioned Percy, his voice quieting down again as I blinked, his voice bringing me back to the conversation. I slipped the necklace back into my pocket. I'd figure out what it was later. Right now, I wanted an explanation for what had led up to the scene in front of me (also what they were even talking about), maybe I'd get one if I kept listening. But I needed to keep my cool, stay in the tree, and pay attention.

"Kronos got you to steal the master bolt and the helm. He spoke to you in your dreams." Percy continued, saying his name again, anyway. My head reeled, but I couldn't afford to think about this right now!

Luke paused a small moment—giving me time to catch my breath, so to speak—before saying, "He spoke to you, too, Percy. You should've listened."

"He's brainwashing you, Luke."

"You're wrong." Luke's anger rose again and I jumped before cursing at myself silently. "He showed me that my talents are being wasted. You know what my quest was two years ago, Percy? My father, Hermes, wanted me to steal a golden apple from the Garden of the Hesperides and return it to Olympus. After all the training I'd done, _that_ was the best he could think up." This last sentence was said through gritted teeth.

I instantly felt dread weighing on my chest, a cold rock forming in the pit of my stomach. He'd been angry for so long? Why hadn't he told me? I would've been there for him. Luke should've known that. Maybe Kronos had gotten to him before I could….

"That's not an easy quest," Percy tried. "Hercules did it."

"Exactly," Luke spat. "Where's the glory in repeating what others have done? All the gods know how to do is replay their past. My heart wasn't in it. The dragon in the garden gave me _this_ "—his hand shot up, pointing angrily at his face, no doubt his scar—"and when I came back, all I got was _pity_." I felt pain blossom inside me, along with the dread and cold stone. It was like I hadn't even been there. I'd done everything I could to make him smile again. Had that meant nothing to him? Had he perfected his fake smiles? Or had I become desensitized? Or maybe both…?

"I wanted to pull Olympus down stone by stone right then," Luke continued, "but I bided my time. I began to dream of Kronos. He convinced me to steal something worthwhile, something no hero had ever had the courage to take. When we went on that winter-solstice field trip"—my blood turned to ice; _no way_ —"while the other campers were asleep, I snuck into the throne room and took Zeus's master bolt right from his chair. Hades's helm of darkness, too. You wouldn't believe how easy it was. The Olympians are so arrogant; they never dreamed someone would dare steal from them. There security is horrible. I was halfway across New Jersey before I heard the storms rumbling, and I knew they'd discovered my theft."

I had to put a hand over my mouth again. I was starting to hyperventilate. I had _been_ there, on Mount Olympus for that. I'd _been there_. I remembered hearing the storms.

Percy spoke, bringing me (just barely) back to the conversation. His voice sounded strained, like he was trying to keep it under control, to keep Luke from seeing just how panicked he felt. "So why didn't you bring the items to Kronos?"

There was a pause. Luke's face was still in shadow. "I… I got overconfident." he admitted. "Zeus sent out his sons and daughters to find the stolen bolt—Artemis, Apollo, my father, Hermes. But it was Ares who caught me. I could have beaten him, but I wasn't careful enough. He disarmed me, took the items of power, threatened to return them to Olympus and burn me alive. Then Kronos's voice came to me and told me what to say. I put the idea in Ares's head about a great war between the gods. I said all he had to do was hide the items away for a while and watch the others fight. Ares got a wicked gleam in his eyes. I knew he was hooked. He let me go, and I returned to Olympus before anyone noticed my absence." Luke suddenly pulled out his sword. I looked at it, my eyebrows furrowing. That metal seemed wrong, but I couldn't figure out why.

Luke continued. "Afterward, the Lord of Titans… h-he punished me with nightmares. I swore not to fail again. Back at Camp Half-Blood, in my dreams, I was told that a second hero would arrive, one who could be tricked into taking the bolt and the helm the rest of the way—from Ares down to Tartarus."

Something dawned on Percy. " _You_ summoned the hellhound, that night in the forest."

I sucked in a sharp breath and whispered, " _What?_ " Only too late did I realize my mistake. I clamped a hand over my mouth and ducked behind the trunk of the tree, spinning around and pressing my back up against the trunk, but it had gone deadly quiet. The only sound was the river softly flowing through the forest. Not even the breeze stirred the leaves or bushes.

"Who's there?" Luke asked, his voice harsh and commanding. "Show yourself!"

I didn't move. I kept absolutely still, a hand still over my mouth. I didn't dare breath.

"I know you're there," Luke warned darkly. "If I have to come find you, it's not going to be pleasant."

I vaguely wondered if he would've said that had he known it was me. I also decided I should show myself. Less chance of a fight breaking out. Less chance of anyone getting hurt.

Without speaking, I climbed down onto a lower branch before jumping out of the tree, still hidden by its trunk. I unslung my bow from my shoulder and nocked an arrow. It was more so for the black thing that had been sitting on Percy's shoe (because I had no idea what it was or what it was meant for), than it was protection against Luke. I honestly didn't think he'd hurt me.

Keeping my bow and arrow down, I slowly turned and walked around the tree's trunk, stepping out into the sunlight, out to where both Luke and Percy could see me. My eyes were on Luke, though.

"Hey, Luke," I said in a ragged voice. His wintery blue eyes widened in surprised, all melting from their depths. His sword was raised as if he'd been expecting to be attacked—which in all fairness, he probably had—but it dropped slightly when he saw me.

"Tori?" he asked, his eyes flickering nervously to Percy before back to me. He took a step toward me, sword still raised. I automatically took a step back, raising my bow and arrow. Luke immediately froze and held his other hand up in a stop gesture. "Whoa, hey, it's all right," he assured. "I'm not going to hurt you." Keeping his eyes locked on mine, he slowly sheathed his sword.

I slowly lowered my bow and arrow, but didn't put either of them away. I was still glaring warily at Luke, but I felt the tears stinging my eyes. I looked at Percy who looked like he wanted to attack Luke, with his back turned like it was, but something was stopping him. Probably the thing on his foot. Now that I was closer, I could see it resembled a scorpion.

"Is it true?" I asked, my voice shaking. "What you said? You stole the lightning bolt and the helm of darkness? You're working for… for Kronos?" A cold breeze blasted through the forest. The leaves rustled all at once and only for a second before settling down. A chill ran down my spine. The necklace in my pocket felt like it'd frozen solid.

Luke glanced back at Percy again before taking another step toward me. I mirrored, taking a step back.

"Yes," he admitted, meeting my eyes again. "Yes, it's true"—he continued on quickly, because I took another step back, shaking my head—"but if you were listening to what I was saying back there, you understand why." Luke started toward me, stepping into the river, with his hands raised in an "I surrender" gesture, but I stepped back again raising my bow and arrow anger washing through me.

"Don't come near me," I spat through gritted teeth. More tears flooded my eyes, threatening to spill over.

"Tori," Luke said slowly, taking careful steps toward me. I could see the hurt in his eyes. I hoped it meant he was hurt that I thought he'd hurt me and not for some other reason. Or… fake.

"You, of all people, should know what I'm talking about," Luke broke me out of my thoughts. "Your own father hasn't even _claimed_ you but he claimed your brother." At this point, he was standing with an arrow tip brushing his forehead. My hands were gripping the bow and arrow so hard my knuckles were white. "If you don't believe me, then go ahead, shoot."

His blue eyes bored into mine. He kept his hands up and never looked away from me. He knew I wouldn't be able to shoot him. Not like this. Unarmed, in cold blood, despite what he'd done.

Despite what he'd done, I found I still loved him.

I lowered my bow and arrow, still glaring at him. Luke dropped his arms before turning to look at Percy over his shoulder.

"Just remember what I told you about my little friend, Jackson," he growled. "Any sudden movement and you're dead." He turned back to me and steered me over to the tree I'd come from, far enough away that Percy wouldn't hear our conversation if we spoke in hushed tones, but close enough that Luke could keep an eye on him.

"Is this what you weren't telling me? Why you pushed me away for two months?" I murmured, my tears finally spilling over. I used the back of my wrist to wipe them away, for I was still holding my bow and arrow. Percy could still see both of us, and I didn't want to look like a cry-baby in front of him.

Luke put his hands on my upper forearms gently. "Yes, but for good reason," he said in the same quiet tone. "I promised to explain it _all_ to you later. I intend to keep that promise, but right now I have to handle this." He jerked his head toward Percy.

"Luke, you're not going to kill him, are you?" I wanted to demand he explain why he couldn't tell me this now, but speaking of Percy brought back what Luke had warned him before coming to talk to me.

Luke's face darkened. "I have to. He knows about this. About me, what I've done. I can't let him report it to the gods."

I shook my head, my voice rose when I spoke, "Luke, that's wrong. That's—"

"Shh, shh, Tori," Luke squeezed my arms, taking a step closer to me. "Please, understand that this is something I _need_ to do." I gazed up at him searchingly. It didn't look like he was going to waver anytime soon. I'd just have to somehow stop that… _thing_ without Luke's knowledge. I wasn't going to let Percy die.

As for Luke, I had to make sure he knew I was still on his side. I wanted him to trust me. To tell me everything… so I could figure out a way to stop him, to save him.

"Where will you go?" I asked in a quiet voice again, looking down.

"I have somewhere I'll be able to hide," Luke answered, sounded relieved that I'd seemingly accepting his task. He put a finger under my chin and lifted my head so I could meet his eyes. They always managed to take my breath away. "Do you have the necklace?"

One of my hands twitched to the pocket it was in. I nodded mutely. The scythe, of course! I couldn't believe I'd forgotten that the scythe was the sign of Kronos. He'd wielded a scythe. Zeus had used it to chop him into pieces.

"You'll be able to contact me with it. It'll also help me keep tabs on the camp." he explained.

I pulled away from his hand and gripped my bow and arrow tighter. "You want me to spy on the camp?" I asked in a whisper.

"Just for a little while." he said quickly. "I'll find another spy that I know I can trust and then I'll come get you and explain _everything_. I promise. I knew I could trust you with this. That's why I gave the necklace to you."

I was feeling weak from this rush of information, but I needed to stay on my feet and coherent if I was going to figure out how to save Percy in the first place.

"…all right," I acquiesced in an even smaller voice than before, my eyes dropping to the forest floor again.

This didn't last long because Luke took my face in his hands and kissed me. It was quick and short, but I leaned forward to sneak in another one before pulling away.

"Thank you," he breathed, before dropping his hands and taking a step back. I looked back at Percy. He was watching me with appraising green eyes. I tried to send him a silent message that I'd be back to help, but as I put away my arrow, shouldered my bow and grabbed the branch above me to get back into the trees, it was apparent the message didn't get across.

His green eyes flashed like Greek fire, looking at me incredulously and infuriated. I would be back, though. I couldn't let this kid just die.

I looked down at Luke and nodded once. As I turned to jump to another tree I noticed the incredulousness in Percy's eyes turn into sheer panic before Luke turned to face him again and he tried to hide it. I quickly started jumping through the trees. I was going to circle back around, only onto the other side of the forest, hopefully near where Percy and Luke were. And hopefully in time.

If I'd just known how much pain Luke was in—I shook myself. I couldn't dwell on this right now. I had to push down the emotional turmoil and all my swirling thoughts so I could focus on my task, focus on where I was going, and do it swiftly and silently. I kept my eyes on the trees in front of me as a numbness, a deadly calm, settled over me, allowing my mind to concentrate.

I slowed when I heard their voices again. This time I was on their side of the river. I was breathing hard as I crept up once again through the trees, unslinging my bow and nocking an arrow. I found a good hiding spot, in the tree that was shading Percy. I stayed behind the trunk, in the shadow, but just so that I could see Percy. I could see fractions of Luke through the leaves and hoped he didn't see me or wouldn't look up any time soon. His sword was out again.

The scorpion had made its way onto Percy's thigh at this point. The tone in Luke's voice had a finality to it. I'd made it just in time.

"Luke—" Percy tried.

"Goodbye, Percy. There is a new Golden Age coming. You won't be part of it." he interrupted right before slashing his sword in an arc in the empty space next to him before stepping through some sort of portal, shimmering and disappearing.

The black thing then lunged at Percy's face. Quick as lightning I stepped forward and around the tree's trunk so I had a better aim, raised my bow and arrow, and let my arrow fly. The Celestial bronze tip pierced the monster, disintegrating it into sulfurous dust, the arrow landing right between Percy's legs.

Percy, who'd pulled a sword from nowhere as far as I could tell, looked up and over his shoulder at me, stunned. If it was possible, he looked even more incredulous than he had when he thought I'd left him to die.

I jumped down from my hiding spot, landing next to him, and turned so I could face him, offering my hand.

"You okay?" I asked, the deadly calm still coursing through me.

Percy looked back and forth between me and my hand, his eyes still wide. He finally took it and I helped him to his feet. By now, the shock had worn out. His green eyes were now very cautious. "You saved me," he said.

"I'm not a heartless monster," I told him, my voice hard.

"But you and Luke…" He trailed off, pointing across the stream. I half-turned to look over. I assumed he'd been pointing to the spot that we'd talked and kissed.

I turned back to him. "That's not really your business," I told him in a crisp voice. Percy gazed at me intently. I noticed he still had his sword out.

"Nice sword," I commented, gesturing to it.

A smile tugged at the edge of his lips. "Watch," he said, before touching the tip of his sword with a cap to a disposable ball-point pen, which, right before my eyes, shrunk down into an actual disposable ball-point pen.

I tried not to look too stunned. "Cool trick."

Percy slipped it into his pocket. "It also reappears in my pocket if I lose it."

"Handy," I muttered, trying not to sound jealous. I went over to grab the arrow that was sticking out of the rock.

"I still don't understand: Why'd you save me?" Percy asked as I did so.

I pulled the arrow—too damaged by the rock to be useful anymore—out and asked my own question, "What was that thing, anyway? It looked like a… scorpion?" I straightened up, arrow in hand, and turned to face him again. His eyes had gone back to caution. I met his gaze, daring him to ask me his question again before he answered mine.

"A pit scorpion. A monster from Tartarus." He finally answered. "You're turn."

I narrowed my eyes at him for a moment, feeling the hurt creep up on me, just thinking about everything that'd happened. "Because you're just a kid. A sweet kid." I turned and looked out through the forest, shoving the arrow back into the quiver.

Percy muttered, "Oh… wonderful, I come back from the Underworld, fight Ares to retrieve Hades's helm of darkness and return Zeus's lightning bolt to Olympus, and all I am is _sweet_." I stifled a laugh. He paused. "You know you're not _that_ much older than I am."

"We should get to the Big House. Report this to Chiron, so he can inform the gods." I looked at him over my shoulder. "And I'm eighteen. I'm six years your senior, kid." I smirked before staring into the woods, without waiting for a reply. I heard Percy's pursuing footsteps and soon he was next to me. I could feel his sea-green gaze on my face.

"You'd do it, just like that?" he asked.

I gave him a sidelong glare, my left hand gripping my bow harder. "Why is that so shocking?"

Percy faced forward, his ears turning pink. "Ah… just… you and him—"

"We've been over this." I snapped.

"Hey, no offense, but I don't think you want him as your boyfriend. He's turned completely evil." Percy said.

I felt the edges of my lips twitch at his use of evil. Evil people belonged in stories and books. Though… Luke had seemed so different than I'd ever seen him. All that pent up anger. Kronos was no doubt feeding on it. Feeding him half-truths to make Luke cooperate with him, help him. If there was one thing I was sure of, it was that feeding emotions that are already there was always the best way to control someone. Considering that Luke's had been there, but very, very prominent, he was the perfect pawn for the titan lord.

I gripped my bow even harder.

No. I wasn't going to let Kronos get away with this. Not just trying to rise, but using Luke to do it. I was going to find Luke, whether he liked it or not, and convince him that the titan was simply using him, nothing more. That he didn't care about what happened to Luke, as long as he rose. I only hoped Luke wouldn't be too resentful to see.

"I was there," I reminded Percy in a dark tone.

We reached the edge of the trees in silence.

"You go on ahead," Percy said. "I'm going to go find Annabeth. She deserves to know about what's happened."

I nodded and we split up.


	8. Throw Away My Faith

Chiron and I waited for Percy and Annabeth is silence. Chiron had gone into his wheelchair form and was sitting in the front room, staring pensively at the empty fireplace. I was pacing as my mind raced.

There were just so many things to think about. I'd learned so much today. I didn't know what to think about Luke anymore. I still loved him, whether as a friend or romantically, I wasn't sure anymore, but I knew I still loved him. I just couldn't believe he had allied with… Kronos.

The necklace in my pocket grew colder when I thought this. I almost pulled it out, but froze my hand and my pacing. I glanced at Chiron. He was too busy thinking to notice me. I continued pacing.

What had made him so angry? Why hadn't I seen this sooner? I felt like a failure, not picking up on that. Why hadn't he come to me about this either? If I could've just talked to him, maybe we wouldn't be where we were now. I wasn't sure where that was, in all fairness, but it didn't seem like it was heading in a good direction. If it involved the titan lord, especially.

The necklace felt like it was burning in my pocket, but I made a conscious effort to ignore it and not take it out. Not right now.

Another thing to worry about.

It weighed me down, because I felt like a traitor carrying it around—I was one for agreeing to spy on the camp for Luke. But I couldn't not comply…. It gave me a way to communicate with him, a link to wherever he was at any given moment. Not only that, but if I got him to trust me with this, then maybe he'd listen to me when I tried to convince him what he was doing was wrong. And maybe, just maybe, I'd be able to save him from something that was bound to end up disastrous for everyone involved. If I could just talk to him about this…

Percy and Annabeth's arrival interrupted my thoughts and pacing. I sat down in a chair, but fidgeted and bounced my leg. Chiron sat next to me, Percy and Annabeth sat across from us, on the sofa. Percy told Chiron and Annabeth what happened at the river, minus the kiss, to my relief but also surprise. When he finished, silence hung in the air.

"I can't believe that Luke…" Annabeth finally spoke, faltering with her words. Anger and sadness crept into her voice. "Yes." she decided. "Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him…. He was never the same after his quest."

What she said made me realize that I had noticed his change, I either didn't comprehend how intense it was or was in denial about it.

Chiron turned his ancient eyes on me.

"Did you know about this?" he asked in a soft voice, but his eyes were piercing.

I had to process his question. As I did this, I glanced over at Annabeth and Percy. I couldn't quite read Percy's expression, but Annabeth's was clear. She was glaring at me scathingly. I looked back at Chiron.

"No," I had meant for it to be a strong resonant, no, but it had come out in a whisper. I shook my head and spoke louder, "No, I… I had no idea what… what Luke was up to."

"You are sure he didn't mention anything to you about his plans? Please, this is important." Chiron urged, still in a soft, understanding voice. But his eyes had morphed to solemn and… knowing, like he knew I was hiding something. My hand twitched, almost going to my pocket, but I managed to keep it where it was, in my lap. I'm sure Chiron didn't miss this, though. I just wasn't sure what he'd think of it.

"Nothing," I answered. This time, my voice sounded more hurt. "All he said was he had somewhere to hide." My brain was finally coming to grips with what I'd seen and heard. Luke hadn't told me and I felt hurt, almost betrayed. I had thought we kept nothing from each other. I mean, I had known he was keeping something from me, what with the whole avoiding me after Percy returned and our conversation earlier today, but I didn't think it was this bad. I didn't think he'd keep something this big from me.

I couldn't understand it, either. I thought about the conversation we'd had right before he went down to the arena. Right before he'd tried to kill Percy. He had been trying to keep me safe by not telling me things. Which must have been this. That he was the lightning thief and that he was trying to help Kronos rise again. But how was not telling me keeping me safe? I just didn't understand!

"I can vouch for her, Chiron," Percy said, derailing my spinning thoughts. I was actually thankful for that. Chiron turned to him. Annabeth's glare turned disbelieving as she turned toward Percy. "Not only did she save my life, but…"—he glanced at me—"she looked pretty shaken up when she, uh, came out of hiding, like she didn't know about what Luke had done."

I was mildly taken aback. Only because he knew my situation was complicated. He knew that Luke and I had something, which made everything iffy. If he thought about it more, he really shouldn't have trusted me. At the very least, he shouldn't have testified for me. He should've stayed cautious and wary of me.

Saving his life didn't mean anything with the stakes so high. I could be a spy (I mean, I was, but that's not really the point) and just pretending for the sake that I needed to be at camp for all Percy knew. I was caught between two sides that I couldn't choose from: My home and the person I loved. Which was never a good thing in a coming war, if Kronos succeeded and were to rise again.

One look at Annabeth and I knew she was thinking the exact same thing. I didn't expect anything less from a child of Athena. I'd have to be much more careful around her now. I vaguely wondered if she'd still give me knife lessons.

Chiron nodded before sitting back, his face deep in thought. "This must be reported to Olympus." he finally murmured bleakly. "I will go at once."

"Luke is out there right now," Percy protested. "I have to go after him."

"No, Percy. The gods—" Chiron tried to warn him.

"Won't even talk about Kronos," he snapped. I don't think I'd ever heard him talk like that before, seen him that mad, and toward Chiron. "Zeus declared the matter closed!"

Annabeth touched Percy's arm to catch his attention. Then, suddenly, three pairs of eyes were on me.

"Don't mind me, I was just about to leave anyway," I muttered as I stood up, avoiding all their gazes.

"I will see you at dinner, tonight, Tori?" Chiron asked as I went over to the door. I turned back around to face him.

"Of course," I said softly, managing a small smile before exiting.

The months following were hard. To say the least.

Today, specifically, was the day that what was left of the camp took the annual winter trip to Mount Olympus. I wasn't feeling great, but Chiron wouldn't let me stay unsupervised. I tried to assure him that I'd be totally fine, but he insisted I come. His tone was clear that I was going, whether I liked it or not. (I think, also, the trip was, technically, mandatory.)

As we drove up to the Empire State building, I looked out the window and up at the top. It was a cold but clear morning. There was some snow on the ground, despite the sun, which didn't help much with warmth.

A year ago today Luke had snuck into the throne room and stolen two gods' symbols of power. I imagined they'll be keeping a better eye on their symbols of power now, because of that.

There wasn't a lot of us, we looked like a class of children and teens on a field trip from an ordinary camp. It took two trips to get everyone up.

Even in a sour mood and feeling like a total traitor, Mount Olympus always left me feeling breathless. It was just beautiful, all the glittering golds and whites, and the fires that burned in the bronze braziers, keeping away the chill so high up.

I followed the group across the bridge, floating in midair. I glanced down at the city below remembering the first time I'd visited here. I was lightheaded because of how beautiful Olympus was. I was also afraid of falling to my death. It wasn't just the fear of the walkway crumbling or collapsing beneath my feet, it was also the feeling of making one wrong move and taking a spill right over the side. At this point, after visiting so many times, I'd mostly gotten over these fears.

I knew by now that the stones would never crumble, but I was still slightly afraid I'd have a sudden klutz attack and fall off the side. Luke had always offered his hand.

I shook myself and continued forward. Too many bittersweet memories. (Why did I have to have so many? It didn't seem fair.)

Our group stayed at a little house in a Modern Greek style. It had three stories, including the attic. The first story was where the girls stayed and the second story was for the boys. Those two floors had their own communal bathrooms and we ate elsewhere on the mountain. The walls were ivory, the top of the box gabled roof contrasted with its black roofing tiles. The front of the house was pristine as always. Three steps led up to a small porch. The roof overshot the front of the house, covering the porch, held up with four columns. There were three windows facing out from the second floor, two for the first with the door in between. The door had a shining golden door knob. I had no doubt it was made out of actual gold. At the very least, colored with gold.

We didn't get our own rooms, it was kind set up like the cabins, with bunks for the campers. I took a bottom bunk, as usual, and stayed behind as the rest of the campers left to take a tour around the mountain. Being a year-rounder for such a long time, I'd had time to explore every single spot and shadow on this mountain. I'd seen it all. Besides, I wasn't exactly in the mood to be exploring anyway.

After a few years, I occasionally hung out in the park, where the Nine Muses usually played. I liked listening to their music, though when their tune started to sound like my mom's I left. As much as I loved to hear my mother sing, they could never sound exactly like her. And being reminded of her still hurt. I guess I was still healing. Or maybe I wasn't even healing at all. It'd been six years since her death.

I sat on the edge of the bunk, staring at the floor. I looked around the empty room unnecessarily before pulling the small charm necklace from my pocket. I stared at the scythe, stroking it with my thumb. I'd done this about a million times since I'd gotten it. If I couldn't sleep, in the morning before anyone had woken up, after everyone went to sleep, when I was alone and had nothing else to do.

I had to constantly remind myself why I kept it in my pocket. Why I continued to spy on the camp for Luke. Looking at the big picture, the only thing that kept me holding into that small little scythe charm was the hope that I could save him. The hope that I'd be able to talk some sense into him, that I could take his anger away and make him see Kronos for what he truly was, for what he truly was doing.

That didn't mean I felt any less like a traitor.

I put the necklace back into my pocket and laid down on my bed. I closed my eyes, not intending to sleep, just to think, but I felt a wave of exhaustion rush through me. Before I knew it was out.

When I woke up, I was thirteen again.

It took me a moment to figure out where I was. My eyes were blurry from sleep and wherever I was, it was dark. Not horribly dark, but dark enough all I could make out were grey, fuzzy shapes. I reached to my left and hit, I think, a nightstand. I felt around for a lamp or something. My hand hit the base of a lamp and I followed the body of it until I found a switch.

Light flooded my eyes, overloading them and I had to squeeze them shut again before slowly opening them so they had time to adjust. I bolted upright when my eyes finally took in what they were seeing.

I was in my old room. The room in the apartment that my mother owned. That I had stayed in with her and my brother. I looked down at the bed. The midnight blue bedspread, the white sheets with golden stars on them, my Starry Night pillowcases, it was all the same.

Looking around the room, I pinched my arm as hard as possible. Nothing happened, but this had to be a dream. How else would I have gotten back here? But it felt so real. The warmth of the blankets. The soft light of my lamp showing all the posters on my walls of movies, book covers, actors and actresses. I reached over to the ones closest to me and strokes them. The glossy surface was smooth and cold to the touch. I took one of the pins out and poked myself with it, not hard enough to break skin, but hard enough it hurt. Still no waking up.

This had to be a dream, but….

I put the tack back in place before continuing my scan of the room.

My desk was in the corner opposite of my bed, with a navy blue chair with wheels. On my desk was another lamp. Music papers, homework and textbooks littered the top with scattered pens and pencils. My backpack rested in my desk chair. My guitar sat at the end of my bed on its stand. The door was diagonally across from my bed.

It was a small room, but it was mine. Well, it used to be mine. Most of the things in here, I'd left. I vaguely wondered what had happened to them when suddenly a woman's voice, muted, called my name.

I froze and my heart skipped a beat before pounding painfully in my chest.

"Mom," I whispered, tears filling my eyes.

"Tori," she called again. "Time for dinner!"

"Mom!" I said, my voice stronger and louder this time, throwing my sheets off me and running to the door. I threw it open, my hands trembling, my heart racing wildly in my chest, and ran down the hall. I turned the corner and looked into the kitchen and froze.

"Mom," I whispered again. She was standing at the island, lifting something out of a frying pan and putting it onto a plate. Her pin-straight dark brown hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. When she looked over and smiled at me, her dark brown eyes (that looked hazel in direct sunlight) shone.

Her face fell as soon as she saw how distraught I looked. She put down the spatula and pan before quickly going over to me, leaning forward and taking my face in her hands.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" she asked wiping away tears that I'd unknowingly spilled. "Why are you crying?"

"I just… I'm really happy to see you," I stuttered, trying to hold back my sobs, drinking in her features. Just as I remembered, from her laugh lines and round eyes to her flower print apron and those ridiculous bunny slippers she insisted on wearing around the house all the time.

She laughed, making her laugh lines more prominent before pulling me into a tight hug. I wrapped my arms around her and breathed in her sweet scent. She usually smelled like honey. Right now it was a mix of honey and whatever she'd been cooking (fish, maybe?), but it went surprisingly well.

"Sweetie, you just saw me," she murmured in my ear, rubbing my back soothingly.

"I know, I just—" I broke off. This couldn't be real. Another wave of tears hit my eyes. I hugged her tighter. "I just had a bad dream." I finally managed to whisper.

She ran her fingers through my hair soothingly and I closed my eyes, my heart aching. I wanted to enjoy this, but that only meant it would hurt more when I lost her again….

"Come on," she said, pulling away to look at me. "Why don't you sit down at the counter? I'll hand you dinner and a nice, tall glass of cold water. I'll sing your favorite song, when you go to bed." She smiled and I couldn't help but smile back. I nodded and headed around to the other side of the island. It had a counter and three barstools.

It wasn't the ideal for family dinners because we were all facing one direction, but again, this was a small apartment. Our dining/living space, which was across from the kitchen and separated by a sofa, was the living/TV room. So we made do with what the kitchen had.

Just as my mom had said, she set my plate down along with a glass of cold water. The steam coming from the food condensed on the glass. On the plate was some fish peppered with herbs and spices I couldn't distinguish except for the rosemary. Next to the fish was a scoop or two of green bean casserole.

I swallowed hard and looked away from the food. This was what we'd had the night that my mom had—

"Where's Dan?" I asked, my tears drying up but my heart kicking into high gear. My palms became sweaty and I couldn't stop shifting in my seat.

My mom turned away from the stove to face me.

"He'll be home late tonight: rehearsal for the play, remember?" she said, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Are you okay? You're acting strange."

I glanced down at my plate of food and felt the nausea roll over me. I looked back up at my mom.

"I—" I was cut off by a large crash where the front door was followed by a slow, low growl. The kitchen wall blocked my view but I didn't need to see to know what had just burst through the door.

Not saying a word, my mom ran over to me and pulled me from my stool. I felt frozen in shock. It was happening all over again and I felt absolutely helpless. It wasn't like I could change what happened, this was the past. This was a memory.

But as my mom pulled me back into my room, told me to stay quiet and then left, closing the door behind her, it felt all too real.

With my breath ragged and shaking, I grasped the door handle and opened the door a sliver to peek out. My mom was standing next to the sofa and a hellhound (I hadn't known what it was called at the time; not until Chiron came to pick me and Dan up) faced her, its lips pulled back in a snarl. She was grasping something relatively small but pointed in her hand. I was too far away to make out what it was.

Suddenly the hound turned its glowing red eyes on me and let out a growl. It started toward me but my mother with a cry of "No!" swung her arm out, with whatever she was holding, and managed to cut the beast. The thing froze, glaring at me with pure hatred before turning back to my mother. I could practically hear what it was thinking: take out the protector and the girl was all its.

"Mom!" I cried and threw myself out of my room when it lunged at her. By the time I'd even managed to get down the hall, though, it had pounced on her. She was shrieking, "Please! Help me! Apollo, please! Please! Apollo, help me, please! Apollo!" but I couldn't see anything because the sofa was blocking my view. All I saw the massive shoulders of the monster as they struggled.

I came forward more, needing to do something, to help my mom, but just as I did one of the hellhound's paws finally met its mark. Its razor-sharp claws raked over my mom's stomach. Blood spurted from the wound and my mom cried out in agony.

I froze, paralyzed with shock and fear. I couldn't even scream. My whole body felt as if it'd shut down. There was so much blood…

"Help me!" She continued to cry, though they were much more subdued. "Help me, please! Apollo!"

With a snarl the beast turned its massive head at me as quick as a cobra strike. I met its gaze, his red eyes glittered with malevolence. It lunged at me and seemed to freeze in midair. Or time slowed tremendously. My daze snapped and I suddenly perceived, what felt like, everything. I could hear my mother's soft, broken breathing, see the sweat beaded on her forehead, the sickly shade of grey she was turning, the tears streaming down her face.

The hellhound's eyes seemed to glow brighter. Its maw was open, exposing its pink tongue and gums. Out of the gums sprouted teeth so sharp and white they gleamed in the kitchen's lights. The body was longer than our sofa. Its muscles and fur rippled as it flew through the air at me. Its paws were probably the size of my face.

Then I noticed something else shining in the light coming from the kitchen. Our bronze letter opener. It had flown from my mom's hand across the room, next to the TV stand. I immediately knew what I had to do. Without even really thinking about it, I launched myself into the air as well, only off to my right and over the sofa. I passed the hellhound, who seemed too confused or stunned to swat at me with its massive paws.

I landed a few feet away from the letter opener, but the monster was fast. I started to get up, reaching for the opener when something slammed into my back, knocking me back to the floor. Knocking me so hard, my teeth snapped together—it's a wonder I didn't bite my tongue off—and the air left my lungs. I laid their gasping for a few seconds before I could finally breathe again.

When caught my breath, whatever had slammed into me was no longer pinning me to the ground. I slowly turned onto my back, holding my head and shoulders up with my arms. The hound's face was mere inches from mine. Its breath made my stomach churn. Then it pulled its lips back and a growl rumbled from its chest.

I spun around onto my stomach and clawed toward the letter opener with my left hand. Pain ripped through my shoulder and upper forearm as the monster's claws sliced through my skin like a hot knife through butter. I fought the black spots and the mind-numbing pain, finally grasping the weapon in my fingers. I blindly spun around, with the sharp end aimed at the beast.

The blade sunk into my target, who howled and pulled away. I tried to keep my hand where it was, so that the blade would rip through it as it tried to escape. I blinked away the black spots and tears just in time to see the thing melt back into the shadows on the carpet.

My left arm dropped, the letter opener clattered back to the floor. Blood poured from my wounds, as I sat there, shivering and gasping. More tears spilled down my face. Then I remembered my mom.

Willing my body to move, I got to my feet and stumbled over to my mom who was no longer moving. I collapsed to my knees next to her, right in the pool of blood. At that point I didn't care.

I was sobbing harder now. Despite my shredded arm, I reached up to take her head into my hands. Her eyes were wide and dark. She wasn't breathing. A horrible scream sliced through the apartment. It was only when I started to sink into unconsciousness did I realize the scream had been mine.


	9. Just Another Night

When I opened my eyes, I was still in a memory, except I was eighteen again.

It had skipped ahead a couple of days. I was lying down, but when I tried to sit up, restraints tugged at my wrists. My heart shot into my throat and my stomach rolled sickeningly. I fell back down, squeezing my eyes shut tightly. I pulled my wrists and felt the all-too-familiar padded cuffs holding them to the edge of the bed, at my side. I tried to pull my legs toward me and met the same resistance, keeping them together and at the end of the bed.

Tears pricked my eyes. This had to the second most horrible memory my mind could conjure up: a mental hospital.

Fourteen isn't _that_ young, but I didn't know to keep my mouth shut about what had happened. Police had claimed a wild animal, even suspected me before realizing that I had the same wounds in a place that would be hard for me to get at. They asked me what I saw and I told them, a large dog with glowing red eyes that I killed with a bronze letter opener. When they asked me where the dog had gone to, I told them it had melted away, into the shadows.

Saying it like that sounds pretty crazy now and I know that things like that exist. So you can imagine what they did then after hearing my account of what happened.

It didn't take them long to transfer me to the mental ward at the hospital. They restrained me because I struggled. "It was for my own good", so that I wouldn't tear my stitches. They then injected something into my arm to calm me down. As strong as the fear that that _thing_ would come back, or something like that, to attack me again was, I couldn't fight the medication.

I quickly learned to stop talking about the dog the size of a rhino with glowing red eyes that melted into shadow when killed.

The burning fluorescent lights of my room were still on. I was alone in my small room. The headboard of the bed was pressed up against the middle of one wall, with the door being on the same wall and to my left. The wall on my right had one window seat. All I could see out the window was the reflection of the room, so I figured it was nighttime.

I pulled at my restraints again as my heart rate quickened and my breathing became staggered and shallow. I was starting to panic. I may have been eighteen, but I felt fourteen again. Alone and scared.

The only shadow in this room was underneath my bed. My mind invoked an image of a monster worse than the hellhound forming from the shadow and slithering out from underneath.

I pulled at the restraints harder.

The lights flickered and I froze, now gasping and blinking hard. My eyes darted around the room, looking for anything moving. The walls were bare, the only object in here was the bed. Blood roared in my ears and my heart pounded painfully against my chest. I felt like someone was hammering a large, rusty nail right through my sternum with a mallet.

The lights flickered again. It lasted less than a second but less than a second was all it took for whatever was here to appear on my right, at my bedside. A scream bubbled up to my throat but stopped short when I fully processed who it was.

I didn't want to believe it. What was _he_ doing here?

"…Mr. D?" I asked in a strangled whisper, his presence doing nothing to calm me down.

He was dressed in his usual leopard print running suit. He looked just as unamused as always, but his face was much more serious now.

"I'd be careful struggling in those restraints, girl," he told me, eyes flickering down to my wrists. I lifted my head and looked. The padded cuffs had turned into grape vines. Not comforting in the slightest. I let my head fall back onto the pillow.

"Please let me go," I didn't exactly want to be begging Mr. D for anything, god or not, but this was bringing up unwanted memories and tearing open old wounds in the most excruciating way possible. I felt exposed and raw. The anxiety was building up inside me ready to burst, like a volcano.

"Not until we discuss a few things," Mr. D replied, making a Diet Coke pop into his hand. It opened itself and he took a drink.

I unintentionally pulled at my restraints and they snapped my wrist and ankles back into place, tightening around my limps ever so slightly. I caught my breath.

"I _told_ you not to struggle," our camp director grumbled. "Children, they never listen." I wanted to object to that, but held my tongue. I was in no position to be arguing with a god.

Instead I tried to keep perfectly still and keep as calm as I could… well as calm as I could be seeing as I was already half-scared out of my wits. Memories of sleepless nights, needles being shoved into my arm, screaming, crying, bruises on my wrists and ankles started to rise to the surface. More panic surged through me and I had to fight to keep a handle on things. Still, my heart was beating wildly out of control and it was all I could do to keep from having an all-out panic attack.

I'd had them before and I didn't want to have one right now.

"Wh…what did you want to… talk about?" I stuttered breathlessly.

Mr. D appraised me with surprisingly critical eyes. It wasn't that I didn't think he was critical or intelligent, but he was always pretending to not know campers' names, acting like he wanted Camp Half-Blood itself to burn to the ground, and just generally exuding an air of indifference whenever any of the campers were around him.

"Chiron has informed us of what transpired this summer," Mr. D finally said, carefully, watching my face.

"I don't understand," I told him, my hand clenching into fists. I didn't move any other muscles, afraid the vines would tighten on my wrists and ankles.

"You were involved with Lucas, were you not?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Luke," I corrected. "And yes, but I still don't see—" The vines suddenly tightened again and I let out a yelp, shifting uncomfortably on the bed. Other vines had appeared from, what looked like, underneath, wrapping up and over the edges of the mattress, onto my pillow, making their way toward me. I swallowed hard.

"If what Chiron suspects in true," Mr. D started carefully, "then we must take measures to prevent this." The vines grew closer. "Because I'm the camp director of your silly little Camp Half-Blood, my father sees it fit that I pursue any… leads, shall we say, that come from the camp. Unfortunately." He sighed heavily and rolled his eyes.

I scoffed, anger slowly pushing its way past my panic. "So, what? You think just because I was involved with Luke that I'm helping him?"

Mr. D considered me severely. "Aren't you?" he snapped.

The vines grew closer to me, over my arms and legs, into my hair. I accidentally shifted, trying to get away from the sensation and the vines around my wrists and ankles tightened again. I bit my lip. It was slowly morphing from mildly uncomfortable to seriously painful.

My pocket decided to grow cold at that moment.

"No," I lied, meeting Mr. D's eyes steadily. "I'm _not_." I spat through gritted teeth. I only hoped my show of anger was masking my fear well enough. Though, Mr. D was still a god. I didn't know if he'd be fooled by pathetic masquerades. I was almost going out of my mind with terror. The vines were now slowly and steadily growing over my whole body. They reminded me of roots from a tree. They weren't covering my face (yet), but they were tangled in my hair.

I'm sure grape vines woven in my hair would've actually been really pretty in any other situation. Only now I was so frightened, I didn't think I'd ever look at grape vines the same way again.

"You'd better be sure of your answers, Valerie—"

"Victoria," I corrected, despite my growing anxiety and racing heart. I'm surprised it hadn't given out.

"—because the gods _don't like being lied to_." He finished, ignoring me, articulating his words carefully. His blue eyes flashed with purple fire. The vines grew thicker and suddenly I found it harder to breath. My panic shot through the roof. The necklace in my pocket grew colder and colder as the vines grew thicker and thicker and my breath became shorter and shorter.

"Please," I begged, tears stinging my eyes again. "I can't breathe." I instinctively pulled at my restraints which tightened. I gritted my teeth and held back a cry of pain.

I couldn't stop struggling, though, and each time the vines just grew tighter and tighter until I thought for sure my bones would snap under so much pressure. Yellow spots danced across my vision there was so much pain radiating through my body. The vines pressed my chest and my breaths became smaller. My pocket felt like it was burning a hole right through my leg.

"Please," I gasped, breathless and dizzy, my eyes half-open. My voice was weak and small, because I couldn't get enough air to make it louder. I had to use the rest to provide what little oxygen I could to my blood cells. Black spots joined the yellow ones. I tried to look over at Mr. D, but my vision was becoming so fuzzy I couldn't be sure if the grey blob was him or just my imagination. "I'm not… helping… Luke…. Please…"

I had to stop talking, save air. Everything hurt and if Mr. D replied, I didn't hear him because I was consumed in head-splitting pain. All my nerves endings felt like they were on fire, but I couldn't even scream because the air was being pushed out of my lungs from the vines over my chest.

And just when I thought it was all over for me, that this was my punishment before I died and had to endure further punishment for spying on the camp and lying about the necklace, air rushed into my lungs. The crushing sensation on my wrist and ankles went away and my head spun with relief and dizzying pain as I got vital oxygen to my dying cells.

Mr. D's voice suddenly whispered in my ear, _He doesn't love you._

I shuddered and turned away from his voice. That's when I realized something was covering my face, limiting my oxygen intake. I suddenly felt claustrophobic again and tried to pry whatever it was off my face. It was soft and flexible, but my mind had flown into a panic for a second time when I felt like I couldn't breathe… again. I struggled with the thing, unable to figure out how to get it off my face. My limbs, which I could move freely, got tangled up in it.

My struggles grew bigger as my panic rose and then I was falling. It was short and I hit the floor hard on my hands and knees, that pain nothing compared to what I'd just endured. The, what I now realized were a bed sheet and a blanket, finally came off my face. I stood like that, on my hands and knees, for a long moment just shakily breathing and trying to dispel the fear, both from what had happened with Mr. D and just now.

My whole body was trembling and I felt sobs well up in my throat, but I held them back.

"Jeez, Williams, will you keep it down. People are _trying_ to sleep." a low voice hissed from above me. I struggled into a sitting position and looked up and saw Clarisse.

I did a quick scan of the room and realized I was exactly where I'd fallen asleep: in the little Greek house the campers stayed during our trip to Olympus. Not that that was any surprise.

I looked back up at Clarisse. She'd taken the top of the bunk I was in. Her eyebrows were furrowed and she was glaring at me. Her mouth was open like she was about to chew me out more, but when I looked back up at her, she paused. Her glare turned to some sort of concern—as concerned as the children of the war god could be.

"You look kind of sick. Everything all right?" she asked in a rough voice. I attributed this to the fact I'd grabbed her electric spear and also to the spear lessons I was taking from her. I'd gained some kind of friendship from her.

I swallowed hard, vaguely wondering exactly what I looked like. "I'm fine," I replied in a weak voice.

"You sure?"

"I just need some fresh air." I muttered.

"Don't blame me if you collapse in the middle of street," Clarisse muttered before disappearing from my view. I heard her mattress squeak and the sheets shift as she got comfortable.

I let out a low, slow sigh. I reached up with a shaking hand to wipe off the sweat on my forehead. When I pulled my hand back I noticed that my skin looked deathly white in the moonlight filtering into the room through the windows, even with it being olive-toned, like my mom's. I quickly dropped my hand and tried not to think about it too much.

My heart was still thumping irregularly, but not quite as fast anymore. I sat on the floor, still half tangled in sheets, leaning against the bed frame working up the energy to move. I was still fully clothed in what I'd been wearing when I'd laid down to rest after the other campers had gone to explore Olympus, so I simply needed to stand and walk out to the front door.

It was against the rules to go wandering at night, like at camp, but at least on Olympus, I didn't have to worry about being eaten by harpies. Besides, the streets would be dead, people and nymphs and satyrs asleep. The minor gods and goddesses would be off doing whatever it was they did or needed to do. The mountain would be quiet. There might be some guards, but I figured they'd be patrolling nearer where the gods held council.

Once outside—I was glad that the bronze braziers were still filled with fire to keep the cold away—I wandered up the path, toward the park where the Nine Muses played. Even though it wasn't freezing, I huddled, with my arms wrapped tightly around myself and my shoulders hunched. I walked erratically, stumbling from side of the path to the other, jumping at every flickering shadow the fire cast and every small rustle of the leaves on the trees. If I'd been on a New York street passer-bys would've labeled me drunk.

I was still shaking and I couldn't get rid of the feeling of vines covering my body, pressing down on my chest, wrapping and writhing in my hair. I shuddered and my stomach knotted at the very memory. I stopped at a brazier on the way, examining my wrists and ankles, figuring bruising or welts would show up. Of course, nothing.

I continued on to the park, found a bench sitting right next to a street lamp. It looked like it'd been taken right out of the 1940s. It wasn't on. Nonetheless, I sat down at the bench and stared out at the street, a few yards away. This far from the braziers and I was feeling the chill. I didn't think to bring a jacket with me, but I didn't care. I let the cold wash over me like runoff straight from a mountain, washing away the feeling of those horrid vines, the pain, the memories.

I gazed skyward at the beautiful, glittering stars, looking for the constellations that I knew. Despite New York's light pollution, so high up and on a magical mountain, there were billions upon billions of stars as far as the eye could see. And for a moment, everything felt all right. I felt at peace.

I could've sat there, stargazing for the rest of my life and not have minded. As it was, that wasn't what had been planned for me.

"May I join you?" a voice suddenly sounded. I jumped and looked back down to see who was there, but just as I did the lamp next to the bench blazed to life. My eyes were overwhelmed with a yellow glow and I had to hold my hand up to block it out.

"Uh, sure, fine," I stumbled over my words, not really thinking about the fact that a stranger just asked to sit next to me on a park bench in the middle of the night on Mount Olympus and I didn't even know what he looked like. My mind was too focused on trying to get my eyes to adjust again so I could _see_. I lowered my hand, squinting my eyes and blinking as they took their time adapting. I glanced over at the person who'd sat down next to me as they did this.

I had to do a double take.

My first time looking I saw a handsome, well-dressed man about my age. His hair was sandy blond and he wore a band tee with jeans and loafers. He had earbuds hanging around his neck. The chord stretched down his left side and connected to an iPod in his back pocket.

I didn't think much of this. I looked back up at the sky, only the light from the lamp was blocking my view. It was golden and so bright. Unusually bright. I had trouble looking directly at it and it radiated… warmth—I looked over at the person sitting next to me again.

When the realization hit at who it was, I gasped, jumping out of my seat, toward the lamp, but still facing him, and put a hand over my mouth. He turned his head to look at me. I couldn't tell what emotion his blue eyes held.

I lowered my hand slightly.

"Da—" I stopped myself and swallowed hard, steeling my nerves as well. "Lord Apollo," I addressed him crisply. He flinched like that was the worst thing I could ever call him. And maybe it was considering who he was to me (biologically), but I didn't care. I tentatively sat back down, putting as much space between him and me as possible.

"What brings you out here, so late?" Apollo asked casually.

"I could ask you the same thing," I responded slowly, looking around the darkened park, reminding myself his mini sun-in-a-lamp was blocking my view of the night sky. That irked me. I had really been enjoying myself. I had finally just calmed down from my encounter with Mr. D only to have my stress levels shoot up again.

Silence.

"Why are you here?" I finally asked, looking over him. "Isn't it, like… forbidden for the gods to talk to their children, or something?"

Apollo smiled dryly. "This is a… special case." he answered.

"Oh, let me guess," I exclaimed, throwing my arms up into the air. "You're here to talk to me about Luke. Well, news flash, Dionysus beat you to the punch." I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the stone pathway.

"Yes, well, Zeus thought it'd be more… prudent if I also spoke to you about it." Apollo paused and I glanced over at him. He was looking up at the sky, drumming his fingers against his knee. "Under less stressful conditions."

I shifted on the bench uncomfortably, tightening my crossed arms and turning to glare at the road again. Of course he knew, how could he not? I tried not to shudder as the sensation of vines crawling all over me like snakes rose to the surface of my memory.

"My answer isn't going to change," I said in a quiet voice. "Luke didn't tell me anything. I'm not helping him. End of story." The necklace in my pocket started to burn again and I regretted taking it. It was so stupid to have taken here anyway. Could they sense magic items? They were gods, they should've been able to, yet Mr. D hadn't pushed for it. He hadn't mentioned it. And no one had stopped me on my way up to the mountain to check my pockets. So I couldn't understand… if they knew about it, why not call me out on it?

Apollo's eyes rested upon my face, but I refused to look at him. I could feel them burning a hole into my cheek, but I didn't _want_ to look at him. In fact, I wanted to get up and leave. I would've, too, if he hadn't been a god. Being disrespectful felt like a good way to give them permission to smite you.

"He… also thought," Apollo started in a soft voice, almost scared, which caught my attention, "that because I'm your father—"

My head snapped over to him. "So you do admit," I spat. His blue eyes met my acidic gaze evenly, sadly.

"You have your mother's eyes," he commented.

I turned away and blinked the tears from my eyes. My arms came uncrossed and I shifted in my seat again, itching to get up and sprint all the way to the elevator that would take me back to the mortal realm.

"Don't… talk about her," I told him, wanting my voice to sound angry, but sounding hurt and on the verge of tears instead. "You don't have any right… to talk about her."

"I loved your mother, very much, Tori," Apollo told me in a low voice. "Don't tell me I'm not allowed to talk about her."

"She _screamed_ your name when that hellhound attacked," I choked out, turning to face him again. "She cried for your help and you didn't do… _anything_."

Apollo turned away. His mouth was set in a deep frown, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes glittered with anguish.

"I know," he said in an almost ragged voice. "I know,"—he squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists—"and it took all I could… not to help."

I was stunned for a moment at his words. The tears that had been threatening to spill over finally did. I wanted to look away from him, but I found I couldn't.

"Why didn't you?" I had wanted to yell that at him this time, but my voice betrayed me, coming out in a whisper.

"Because it is not something under my control," Apollo answered in a stronger voice, opening his eyes and unclenching his fists. He turned to look at me again. His blue eyes had hardened. "It is the Fates who control who lives and who dies. Even gods must abide by their say."

"That's not good enough," I whispered shaking my head and turning away from him as more tears streamed down my face. My breathed whooshed from my lungs and I sat there, grasping the bench's arm rest, my other hand fisted, resting on my leg. Sobs tried to make their way out of my throat, but I swallowed them. The tears continued, there was no stopping those.

"So, then, why haven't you claimed me?" I asked. More silence. I looked over at Apollo when he didn't answer. He was looking nervously around like someone or something was going to pop out of the bushes and attack us.

"Tori, let's not talk about this right now—"

"No," I interrupted him in a cold, yet tearful voice "You came to me, remember. You wanted to talk. Let's talk."

He glared at me, the light above in the lamp grew brighter and hotter. I didn't break eye contact. Finally, he looked away. The light dimmed. He was drumming his fingers on his knee again.

"Because I was scared," Apollo finally answered in a quiet voice. I almost didn't catch it.

" _Scared_?" I whispered incredulously. I straightened up, my tears drying up, anger and resentment rushing through me. "You were _scared_?"

Apollo's head snapped back to me. The lamp light grew brighter again.

"Yes," he hissed. "I was afraid that that would only make you hate me more. After what happened to your mother, I thought that claiming you would be insult to injury, salt in the open wounds. I didn't want you to hate me any more than you already did, so I didn't claim you."

"You claimed Dan!" I exclaimed, still not quite understanding. I was more hurt than angry, which made me angry, because for there to be hurt there had to be love first. I didn't think I loved Apollo. He was my biological father. That was it. (Boy, was I wrong about that observation.)

Apollo looked away. "Only because he was gone when your mother died. He didn't have to see or live through what you did."

I wanted to say something, anything, but the words weren't forming in my head. I couldn't think of what to say to that. I still wasn't sure if I fully understood his decision.

After what happened, Dan was, obviously, notified. He visited me in the hospital, both in the ICU and the mental ward (I hadn't the heart to tell him what had happened just yet, lest they keep me in the mental ward longer), from the foster home they'd put him in. I had a foster home already picked out when I was ready. Thankfully, Chiron found us before I had to endure that after enduring being strapped down like an animal.

I knew that wasn't standard, but I guess he either heard about what happened and wanted to come personally, or a satyr found us, heard what happened and told Chiron who then thought it would be best if he went personally. The latter made more sense. Either way, Chiron was the one who introduced me and Dan into our new demigod lives.

When we arrived at Camp Half-Blood I'd sat Dan down and told him everything, including the fact that she'd called for Apollo's help. I didn't want to lie to him and I wanted to give him all the facts so that he could make the decision with all the information and on his own terms.

"But I told him what happened," I finally said. "And you still claimed him."

Apollo half-sighed and half-groaned, rubbing his forehead. "Hearing about what happened and experiencing it are two different things. He wasn't nearly as… angry as you were." He paused and looked over at me with careful eyes. "As you still are."

I shifted in my seat again, facing front. I wasn't sure if knowing why he hadn't claimed me was worth it anymore.

"Would you like me to claim you when you get back to camp?" Apollo asked in a carefully crafted monotone voice.

I pursed my lips and thought about this offer before saying, "Wouldn't make a difference."

"We need to talk about Luke." Apollo said, closing the chasm that'd begun to yawn between us.

I sighed and sagged, annoyance spiking higher in my cocktail of emotions. "I _told_ you already—"

"He doesn't love you," he interrupted. I turned my head to look at him. He was looking at the street. Mr. D's last words to me ran through my head, the exact same thing: _He doesn't love you._

"What?" I asked carefully. He looked at me, his eyes had hardened again.

"He's using you," Apollo continued. "He only said he loved you so you'd keep his secret. He _doesn't_ care about you."

"What secret?" I asked.

Apollo gave me a look, calling me out, but he said nothing about it. The necklace in my pocket grew cold, yet again.

"Do you know where he is? How he's going to raise the titan lord? Why he even began this quest in the first place?" he questioned instead.

"Well, no, to… all of those, but—"

"And there's a reason for that," he interrupted again. "You're just a pawn to him. Don't let him use you like this." His eyes softened. I tried not to snort. Like he actually cared about what happened to me.

"He's _not_ using me!" I yelled indignantly instead. My emotions stopped swirling and two took center stage: Anger. And doubt. It'd been in my voice, when I'd snapped at Apollo. Those questions Apollo had asked… I didn't know the answers. If Luke _did_ love me, wouldn't he have trusted me enough to tell them to me _before_ he left? But… he did promise he'd tell me later, right?

Apollo simply gave me another look before standing. "It's getting late, you should get some rest." The lamp started to glow in time with Apollo's body. I covered my eyes, feeling the heat from the lamp intensify. I thought for sure if I didn't burn up from looking at Apollo in his true godly form, then his mini sun would do it for him, but the heat started to fade and when I peeked out from between my fingers, the night was still and dark again.

The lamp had gone out and Apollo was gone.

I looked up at the sky. I could see the stars.


	10. Dream, Send Me a Sign

I was cold and I really should've gone back to that little house and slept, but I wanted to think. I didn't want to think with other sleeping people around me.

I had two states of thinking. One was I paced while I thought, because my ADHD would kick into overdrive and I'd need to move or go crazy just sitting, trying to keep still. The other one was the complete opposite, where my ADHD seemed to disappear altogether or go on a short holiday, and I'd sit and stare at something, still as a statue while my mind raced.

There was no in between.

Right now was a pacing kind of night. I would've loved to continue to star gaze as I thought about what Apollo had told me, but my body was itching to move. That may have also been because without the heat from the lamp, my body felt too cold. I'd been doing okay before, but comparing the warm lamp and the cold night air, away from the braziers, there was a huge temperature difference. Now I was shivering.

So I paced back and forth in the semi-darkness, in front of the bench, thinking.

I locked away our conversation about my mother and my brother. It was too overwhelming to think about right at this moment, too personal. I needed time to build my walls back up again before I addressed those. Right now I felt too exposed, too vulnerable.

I could feel the tear stains on my cheeks, my eyes and nose were no doubt red. My nose was completely stuffed with mucus forcing me to breathe through my mouth. My hair was tangled from thrashing in my bed and my messing with it too much.

One thing was for sure, I wasn't going to be winning any beauty pageants any time soon.

Instead, I thought about the very last thing Apollo had sprung on me right before leaving. The last thing Mr. D had said to me, too.

Luke didn't love me. Luke was using me to spy on the camp.

I just couldn't believe this. My hand went up to touch my lips as I remembered our first kiss, the warmth of his body against mine, the gentleness of his hands cupping my face. I bit my lip and hugged myself even tighter. The cold seemed to have gotten colder.

It couldn't be true. He did love me. He _did._ Didn't he…?

I froze.

But two gods, _two_ , had told me he didn't. One of them my own father, also the god of prophecies, had told me he didn't, that he was just using me.

I continued pacing.

Could they really be trusted? How was I supposed to know they weren't just saying that because they knew I was still helping Luke in some way and wanted to make sure I never helped him again? Or flush out whatever they thought I was hiding, catching me red-handed? Then again, if they knew I _was_ helping him, why do this at all? Why not just punish me and be done with it?

I let out a harsh, quiet laugh. Maybe this _was_ their punishment, making me re-live two of my most horrid memories to make my walls crumble before planting the seed of doubt.

They'd done a good job, because the doubt was growing, but instead of something new and vibrant, it was the exact opposite. It was a hole, right in my heart. I wanted to believe, so badly, that Luke did love me. That he wasn't just using me to get what he wanted. But at the same time… _two_ gods. That had to mean something, didn't it? They'd even said the exact same thing!

And it wasn't like Kronos didn't have the power to convince people to trick other people, either. He wasn't nicknamed The Crooked One for nothing. If he could use demigods as pawns, who's to say he couldn't get those demigods to use other demigods as pawns. It'd not only make his little puppet feel in control, but it'd also help him accomplish his goals swiftly. Which meant there was a possibility Kronos convinced Luke to act like he loved me….

I gave up pacing with a defeated groan, and sat back down on the bench, throwing my head in my hands. I felt like sobbing again. I could feel the tears pooling in my eyes.

"That just won't do," a woman's voice came from my right. I sucked in a sharp breath and sat up straight, instantly turning to see who was there. And I could actually see her because the lamp behind me had been lit again. Though the light was much softer and didn't give off heat.

My throat closed, the tears that had formed streamed down my face when I blinked. The woman sitting next to me looked like my mother for a scary moment with the straight, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and olive-toned skin. That moment passed too soon, but not soon enough, and then I was looking at my mom's favorite female singer, then my favorite female singer. And all these versions looked like they'd just come off the runway, or like they'd stepped right out of the cover of a magazine, air-brushed and perfect. My tears quickly stopped, confusion taking its place.

When I managed to tear my eyes away from her face, I noticed she was wearing a gorgeous crimson, silk dress. I wanted to tell her she was going to ruin that dress walking through this park and sitting on this bench, but then I remembered she'd said something to catch my attention in the first place.

My eyebrows furrowed and I tried to concentrate. "I'm sorry?" I asked.

The woman's beautifully plucked eyebrows puckered. "You look awful, honey." she told me straight up.

Now, I wasn't one to care much about appearances, not after being so badly scarred and also growing up at a camp where you were out in the woods all day, fighting, getting sweaty, wearing bulky armor, etc. However, when she told me this, I suddenly didn't want to show my face to her. I felt so inferior I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me just so she wouldn't have to see how awful I looked.

It finally dawned on me who this was and why I suddenly cared about what I looked like.

 _Three_ gods in one night? That had to be some kind of record. Or a bad omen.

"Lady Aphrodite," I greeted politely. She smiled. So lovely. I blinked and mentally shook myself.

"I can fix that for you," she said before flicking her finger at me. I felt something pull through my hair, in a gentle soothing way—it reminded me of when my mom would brush my hair when I was little, before I went to bed or to calm me down—all at once as the puffiness of my eyes went away and my stuffed nose became instantly clear. A compact mirror appeared in Aphrodite's hand and she held it out for me. I reluctantly took it and examined myself.

My hair had been combed through, no more knots, no more rat's nest. It even looked… shinier. I ran my fingers through it, silkier, softer. My eyes were no longer red, puffy or blood-shot, and my nose wasn't red, either. My smudged and tear-stained face had been cleaned. My skin seemed to glow, though that could've just been the lamp light.

I closed the mirror and handed it back to her.

"Thank you," I managed to stutter out. She smiled again, stunning me for a moment. I severely hoped every demigod, male or female, she talked to, reacted to her like this, that way I didn't have to feel like a complete fool.

"It was really no problem at all," she said, making the mirror disappear into thin air. Her nails were long, perfect and painted the same red as her dress. Her lipstick was a shade darker.

"Um… no offense, but why are you talking to me?" I finally asked, trying to look at her but not get caught up with how gorgeous she looked.

Aphrodite laughed. Gods, it was so musical. I blinked again and snapped myself out of it.

"I've been keeping an eye on you, Miss Victoria Williams," she answered with a secretive smile. "I've taken personal interest in your little love story with our favorite traitor, Luke Castellan." Her ever-changing eyes turned almost rueful.

"You've what?" I asked despite how dry my mouth felt. My heart thumped oddly in my chest.

"Oh, it just warms my heart," she exclaimed, taking a deep breath and putting both hands on her chest where her heart was before bringing them back into her lap. "Good and evil, falling in love!"

Being as coherent has I was, I asked, "Um… what?"

"Don't you listen to Dionysus or your father, dear," Aphrodite went on. "They're just saying things—nonsense things!—to rattle you. Luke most certainly loves you. And I can tell, you really love him, don't you?" She smiled. I blushed. But her smile suddenly changed to a small pout as her eyebrows puckered again. "Oh, but they've already gotten into your head haven't they?" I looked away, down at the ground. "What pests." She sounded annoyed. "But that's why I'm here, to reassure you, darling."

I looked back up at her, trying not to feel too hopeful. Then again, Aphrodite _was_ the goddess of love, if she was telling me that Luke _did_ actually love me….

"I don't understand," I told her truthfully, focusing on a different part of the conversation. "Luke is trying to stop _you_ —all of the Olympians by raising the titan lord."

"Yes?" she asked in a tone that said, _What's your point?_

"Well… I mean, that's kind of bad for you, isn't it?"

"Yes, it would be, if you were helping him. But you're not. You've said so yourself, haven't you?" One of her eyebrows arched while one side of her lips quirked up in a half-smirk.

"Yes," I answered too quickly. "I mean, no." I blinked hard. "I mean, yes, I've said so myself. No, I'm not helping him." My voice cracked and I looked away from Aphrodite.

"What are you trying to do?" she asked gently. I slowly lifted my eyes to look at her again. Her own eyes seemed to draw an answer from me that I wouldn't have told anyone else about.

"I want to save him," I said softly.

Aphrodite grinned, looking absolutely elated at my answer.

"Oh," she exclaimed like she'd been holding her breath. "It's so romantic! I do so love a good tragic love story."

My mood plummeted lower than it had already been and my confidence about my plans went with it.

Tragic?

"It reminds me of _Romeo and Juliet_ ," the love goddess continued.

"They both die in the end," I protested.

"Oh, I know!" she exclaimed. "It's it wonderful?" My stomach dropped alongside my mood and my confidence.

"Not from where I stand," I told her truthfully.

"Don't fret, my dear, too much about what my brothers have told you," Aphrodite said, ignoring my quip. "I assure you, Luke loves you very much." She paused. "More than I think he realizes, even." She was looking out the corners of her eyes but they were distant, like she was having a vision or watching something play out in her head. A small smile formed on her lips.

"What is that even supposed to mean?" I questioned, exasperated, bringing her attention back to me. I was starting to feel the cold and exhaustion seep into my bones. Even her aura that made me feel inferior to her beauty seemed to no longer affect me. Or I was too tired to care anymore.

Aphrodite stood. "Your father was right about one thing, however, you should rest now." I should've expected her to ignore my question.

I thought for sure she was going to snap her fingers and I'd end up back in my bunk, half-asleep. Instead she shimmered and disappeared, leaving behind the scent of a perfume that reminded me of my mom.

I blinked out of my daze and looked around. The park was quiet and dark once again, the lamp having gone out after Aphrodite left. I sat there for a moment thinking about all that'd happened to me in the past few hours. Then I jumped from my seat and sprinted all the way back to the small Greek house afraid another god might decide to have a little chat with me.

I wouldn't put it past Hermes to come visit, seeing how he was Luke's father. And apparently Aphrodite was keeping an eye on me and Luke. I wondered if gods gossiped then immediately banished that thought from my mind as soon as it had formed. Too mortifying to think about. Meeting your boyfriend's or girlfriend's parents was awkward and uncomfortable enough. Having one of them be a god, well that was down-right terrifying.

Oh, but I'm sure we demigods were oh-so entertaining for them to watch, and meddle with if they felt up to it.

I was panting when I got back, but reigned them in before I stepped inside. Without hesitation, I slipped back onto my bunk, pulling the sheets from the floor, where I'd left them, and over me, up to my neck.

I dreamt more, as all demigods did. Thankfully, it didn't involve mental hospitals, grape vines, or a certain wine god. This time.

* * *

 I still hadn't been claimed.

It'd been a few days since our trip to Mount Olympus. I'd thrown myself into my activities to keep my mind off of what had happened during that trip. The feeling of those creepy-crawling vines still dominated my memories. I found myself avoiding the strawberry fields, Mr. D, and flinching whenever anything brushed against my skin.

Exactly four days passed before the words of all three gods finally got to me so much so I couldn't sleep at all. When I could, my dreams were filled with a rocking feeling like I was out at sea, the sounds of many monsters, and always ended with grape vines trying to strangle me while both Mr. D's and Apollo's voices kept telling me Luke didn't love me. I didn't understand what the first two meant, but one thing was certain, I _needed_ to speak to Luke. Immediately.

I went down the beach in the middle of the night. I sat down on the sand far enough away from the water that I wouldn't get wet and pulled the necklace out of my pocket. I still couldn't get myself to actually wear it.

Grasping the charm in my hand and trying not to be self-conscious, because there weren't any other people around, I spoke.

"Luke," I asked, letting the charm rest in my palm as I stared at it. I pulled my legs against my chest and bit my lip. "Luke, if you can't hear me, please… answer." I felt absolutely stupid when nothing happened. Just the sound of the waves as they gently crashed against the shore and the light sea breeze, blowing loose strands of my hair around.

"Luke," I tried one more time, closing my eyes, letting the charm slip from my palm and gripping the chain. "Please. Just… let me hear your voice. We don't need to have a whole conversation. I mean, I'd _like_ to, but—" I broke off and sighed sharply. This was ridiculous.

Anger swelled up inside me. My eyes snapped open to stare at the dangling scythe before throwing the necklace off to my side, not caring where it ended up, if it got buried in the sand, if the tide came in and washed it away.

Maybe Apollo and Mr. D were right. Maybe… maybe he didn't really care about me. Maybe he had been lying to me so I'd do this for him. Was our whole friendship just a big lie, then?

But then there was Aphrodite. She'd told me Luke _did_ love me. One goddess against two gods, but she was the goddess of _love_. I should take her word seriously. Still….

Folding my arms over my knees and resting my chin on my arms, I stared out across the Sound. I felt guilty just doubting Luke. But I just couldn't shake the feeling that, though one had basically tortured me and I hated the other with a deep passion, Mr. D and Apollo had a point—

Someone put a hand on my left shoulder. My own hand instinctively grabbed the person's wrist as I spun and stood up, my free hand shooting out to grab my attacker's neck. Only, they knew this was coming and grabbed my hand before I could get to their neck. He'd learned from his previous experience, then.

In his other hand, the hand that was connected to the wrist I was grasping tightly, he held the chain to my necklace. The scythe charm hung from it.

"Luke," I greeted, letting go of his wrist. His other hand kept mine, lacing our fingers together. He smiled softly. "You came." I stated, confusion swept over me, dousing my anger for now, when something occurred to me. How had he even gotten here?

"Of course," he said. "You, um… you called." He held up the necklace.

At this point, all my worries and fears flooded through my head. Unwanted tears flooded my eyes. I took a deep breath and blinked rapidly, turning away from him.

"I didn't realize—" I broke off. I wasn't really quite sure what I was going to say. "How did you get here?" My voice wavered as I turned back to face him.

"You're upset," Luke noticed, ignoring my question.

I unconsciously brought my arms up to hug myself and turned away from him again. "It's why I called." I admitted quietly. There was no reason to avoid it. I wanted answers, after all. This was just going to be a painful conversation.

"Listen," Luke started in a quiet voice, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder and turning me toward him. "I can't stay long"—as he was saying this, he put the necklace on me; his hands brushing the sides of my neck, making my heart race and tingles shoot down my spine—"so we have to make this quick."

Tears stung my eyes once again and my bottom lip quivered. I tried to turn away, but Luke didn't miss this and pulled me back to face him.

"Tori, Tori, it's all right," Luke assured quietly, cradling my face with both his hands. "Listen, I'm sorry I kept so many things from you, I didn't want you to be punished." His hands moved from my face to my shoulders. "I knew the gods would question you, but now that that's over you won't be questioned again. I would explain _everything_ if I had time, but I don't. And I need you here, so I can keep tabs on the camp—"

"It's not…" I interrupted. They _had_ questioned me. I felt like I'd been punished anyway. I ignored these thoughts and continued. "It's not that. Not… not exactly. I am angry at you for keeping this from me for so long. And that you won't tell me where you are—"

"Then what's gotten you so upset?" he asked, his eyes full of questions, concern. He must care, certainly if he was worried about me, right?

Nevertheless, I asked, "Do you love me?" a tear squeezing its way out of the corner of my eye.

Luke reached up to wipe it away with his thumb, while stroking my cheek, but looking confused at my question. "You should know the answer, Tori. Why would you ask something like that?"

I slapped his hands away and stepped back.

"Yes or no, Luke. Do you love me?" I snapped, my voice stronger than before.

Luke followed me, taking a step forward. "Of course, yes, I love you, Tori. Why are you asking me this?" His voice had also gotten stronger, a little louder.

More tears formed in my eyes and I felt the guilt build inside me. I hated questioning him, but I was so unsure, so insecure.

"Well, you were right, the gods did question me," I mumbled, looking down at the sand. "They also…" I took a deep breath. "They also told me some… things. About… you." I continued averting my gaze but stopped there, knowing he would figure out what I meant and not wanting to see his face when he did. But he didn't say anything. It was quiet for so long I had to look up again. His eyes were hurt, betrayed. And angry. "Say something," I begged.

"So, what?" Luke spat. "After all we've been through, a few words from the gods and you suddenly don't _trust_ me anymore? Is that it? Does my word mean so little to you, you don't believe what I say—"

"That's not it!" I gasped "You don't understand, I'm just confused, Luke. I'm _so_ confused. You didn't tell me _anything_. Not about the bolt or the helm, not about your plan to kill Percy, not about where you are or what you're doing while gone. Not why you need me to spy on the camp! And they… they wore me down." I looked away, one of my hands grasping my other wrist. My stomach rolled at the memory of the vines encasing my body. My chest tightened from the memory of being unable to breathe.

I took a deep breath to remind myself I _could_ breathe. Pressing the memories back as best I could because I wasn't finished speaking yet. I looked back up at Luke. "Do _you_ not trust me enough to tell me what you were doing? That you were working with a titan? That you were having dreams? When did they start? When did you start hating the gods so much? Why didn't you _tell_ me about… any of this? I thought you knew you could come to me for anything."

"I told you," Luke said gently, taking another step closer to me, putting his hands on my upper forearms, all his anger gone. "I was doing it to protect you. I knew that because of our past and the fact that my betrayal was going to become public at some point, the gods would go after any leads to get to me. I wanted to make sure you'd be safe. If you didn't know about any of this, you couldn't be punished. Even the gods know punishing you for something you didn't even know about is wrong." He sneered the last line.

His face softened. "I promise, _promise_ , to tell you everything as soon as I find another spy. No more secrets."

I reached up to wipe away some stray tears.

"Thank you," I finally said quietly.

"You don't need to thank me," Luke responded, caressing my face, while pulling me closer to him with his other hand. He held my gaze, solemnly. "I'm telling you that they were lying. They're just trying to get you help them, because they don't want to admit their mistakes. I'm telling you that I love you."

I couldn't help the smile that pulled at the edges of my lips. "I love you, too." I told him before stretching up on my tip-toes to press my lips to his.


	11. Can't Wake Up

As I said before all demigods dreampt. It came with the territory, being half-god and all. And though the gods' voices finally left my dreams, I couldn't escape the ending and I couldn't escape the vines. I woke up gasping for air and trembling. I'd shake out my hair, because the feelings of those writhing vines still lingered.

This led to my decision to shear off most of my hair to a short pixie haircut. It was uneven and looked horribly lopsided, but I hadn't really been paying attention when I'd started cutting. All I knew was I didn't want my hair so long anymore. I didn't want that feeling of wriggling things in it anymore. It probably didn't help that I'd used a pocketknife to cut it, too.

I'd borrowed one from one of the kids in the Hermes cabin, gone into the bathroom, locked the door, grabbed a handful of my hair and sliced at it with the knife. After, I cleaned up my mess, exited the bathroom, handed the knife back to its owner and then stalked out to go practice archery. The whole cabin had gone silent when I came out—which is hard to do; I don't know why they cared about my hair so much—but no one commented or mentioned it.

I knew it looked bad, but it wasn't like we had a hair salon close by. Besides, that was even if I was allowed to leave the camp grounds. I hadn't known the Aphrodite cabin functioned as a salon and/or beauty parlor (though I shouldn't have been surprised) until they ambushed me during cabin inspections.

With Luke gone and me still unclaimed, I'd been bumped up to head of the Hermes cabin. I tried to give it to the Stoll brothers (they weren't twins, but they sure looked it), but Chiron—and, so I heard, Mr. D—insisted that I be the head counselor. I think Chiron was nervous about how well they'd handle the responsibility. Having lived with them for nearly six years, I honestly didn't think they'd be _that_ bad. And they were actually sons of Hermes. (Chiron wasn't hearing any of it.)

Anyway, as I was saying, I was doing the cabin inspections. I stepped inside the Aphrodite cabin, past some of the sons and daughters whispering and giving me looks. I ignored them and looked around the cabin. Perfect as ever. Despite the overdone perfume smell, I gave them a five and was about to leave when someone grabbed my wrist.

I flinched and tried to force myself not to pull away as I looked to see Silena, smiling at me. She was the head counselor for Cabin Ten and the sweetest child of Aphrodite I'd met to date. She had a slim build, with a surprisingly strong grip, with dark, heavy hair that always seemed perfect, despite having just come from pegasus riding, and startling blue eyes.

"Hi," she said, still holding my wrist.

"Uh… did you need something?" I asked, trying to nonchalantly pull my wrist from her grasp. She didn't lesson her grip.

"Actually, kind of, it'll only take a moment. Follow me." She pulled on my wrist, turning me 180 degrees. Suddenly another one of her siblings, Brandon I believe his name was, was at my other side, cupping his hand around my elbow.

"Where are we going?" I stuttered as they pushed me toward what looked like their bathroom, so the question was suddenly unnecessary. Neither of them spoke as they ushered me in before closing the door.

Their bathroom was like their cabin: clean and perfect. The floor was a tile that was ever-so-slightly tinged pink. The walls were blindingly white. There was a small chair facing a huge vanity that was across part of the back wall with four sinks. To the left were the shower stalls and cubbies the held toiletries. To the right was another mirror, only this mirror covered the whole wall. It was an impressive set-up. Especially when you compared it to the bathroom in the Hermes cabin.

Silena and Brandon stood me in front of the chair before Brandon pushed me down into it as Silena grabbed the grading scroll and pen from my hands. I tried to object and started standing up, but Silena put a hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me back into the seat.

"I promise we'll be quick. We're just going to touch up your… haircut," she said haircut so distastefully I subconsciously reached up to pull at some strands of my hair, wondering if it really looked as bad as I knew it did… or worse.

Silena then went over to the vanity to set the scroll and pen down and gather supplies, I guessed. I quickly dropped my hand, hoping neither of them had seen.

"Look," I started, "it's not that I don't appreciate it and all, but you really don't need to do this." I started to get up again but Brandon pushed me back down. "Besides I have the rest of the cabins to check—" I broke off when Brandon started wrapping something thin and papery around my neck. The sensation was uncomfortable but also made me want to laugh. Worst of all, it reminded me of those vines. I grasped for it, my hand a claw, but Silena hurriedly grabbed my wrist again.

"We insist," she said gently with a smile to match. "Won't take more than five minutes."

"Besides, you need it," Brandon commented finishing tying paper around my neck. Both Silena and I glared at him, though she was facing him, I was glaring at him through the mirror. He shrugged. "It's true. Everyone in this cabin winces when you walk by. It's bothersome."

"Glad to know you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart," I muttered as Silena finally let go of my wrist and went back to the vanity. I shifted in my seat, swallowing hard, telling myself over and over again it wasn't a vine. I could still breathe. It was just a piece of tissue paper. Just a piece of tissue paper….

Brandon threw a black drape to catch hair over the upper half of my body and snapped the collar into place. I tried not to squirm. Underneath the plastic, I balled my hands into fists so tight, my nails dug into my palms, and tried to breathe deeply—just a piece of tissue paper.

I was only staying at this point because I liked Silena. If she was in charge of this whole silly operation then I trusted her. Besides, I hadn't been blind to the stares and whispers from the people around camp. I knew my haircut was crude and looked like someone had taken a weed whacker to my head, but like I said before, there wasn't much I could do. I wasn't a hairstylist, and doing your own hair was hard enough.

Silena had been right about the time, it took three minutes and forty-three seconds (I counted) and they were done. My hair did look admittedly _much_ better than before.

I thanked them as graciously as I could before booking it out of there to go finish inspections. I could practically feel the sigh of relief from Cabin Ten now that _that_ bad hair day crisis had been fixed. I let out my own sigh, glad to be out of there. I didn't know if I trusted going in there anymore for cabin inspections.

* * *

 The months passed, camp went on as usual. Though Luke had put the necklace around my neck the night we'd talked on the beach, I continued to put it in my pocket. It was easier that way. I didn't have to worry as much about losing it or anyone finding it, either.

We had no more contact.

My dreams remained the same—the rocking feeling, the monsters—but grew more vivid with each passing week. They became more disturbing as we headed closer to June, the time when the summer part of this summer camp started. I still couldn't make much out. I finally figured out that the rocking sensation was indeed because I was out at sea. And instead of just rocking, I also heard waves lapping against something solid, most likely a boat.

The monsters… I couldn't figure out as much. They seemed to just appear in my dreams, all the monsters I'd learned about during my time here: _dracaena_ , _empousai_ , hellhounds, Colchis bulls, gryphons, I think a sphinx even appeared once. Sometimes the backdrop would be what seemed to be endless hallways that I was running through to get away from the monsters, with the carpets ruined by years of wear and tear, though the walls looked new. Sometimes it was at Camp Half-Blood, and I'd be running through the forest, weaponless, trying to escape a monster.

My worst nights were when the hellhounds appeared in my dreams.

At first it was just the monsters, but each week the background would become clearer and clearer (the hallways and camp). I'd see more, hear more, smell more, even. But it didn't tell me much. I wasn't sure what any of it meant, the monsters in the maze, or at camp.

One good thing that came out of this: I learned how to avoid my dreams ending with being strapped to a bed by vines.

Still, the images worried me. Especially the ones in camp, because we didn't usually store those kinds of monsters in the woods. Not only that, but they felt different than the ones in the woods. The ones there only got past our border because they'd been summoned, allowed. The monsters in my dreams, they'd somehow surpassed the magic border.

That was an even more frightening thought. Were they getting stronger or was the border growing weaker?

I wanted to tell someone about these dreams, maybe Chiron, but I was also unsure. It wasn't that I thought he wouldn't believe me, it was more along the lines of, if I told him and it was true, I'd be blamed for it happening. Worse, I would be accused of summoning the monsters. Kind of like how just being so closely involved with Luke made me suspect #1 on Olympus after his disappearance.

I was pretty sure Annabeth hadn't gotten the same treatment on our field trip, but maybe romantic relations was different than familial or friendly relations.

Either way, I was wary about telling Chiron. It's not like I could tell him much anyway. They couldn't really be prophetic dreams. I was just running from monsters. If I described that to him, surely he'd pass it off as simple nightmares. I wasn't sure if half-bloods had "normal" nightmares, but if they didn't, I was the exception and Chiron knew this. He wasn't just the one who'd picked Dan and I up to go to camp, he also coached me through my panic attacks and the anxiety I'd developed because of what happened to my mom. He knew I had "normal" nightmares.

Then I had a dream about Luke.

I didn't know it at first. I was standing in middle of a large, stately room. Next to me was a coffee table. To the left and right of the coffee table were two sofas. In one corner of the room was a kind-sized canopied bed. In the other corner stood a mahogany dining table covered with platters of desserts, a full cake, tiered dessert trays filled with bite-sized cakes and chocolates, ice cream that didn't seem to melt, a chocolate fountain with fruit and sponge cake for dipping, bananas. The floor was covered with a Persian rug. The lighting was imbedded into the ceiling and gave off a soft, warm glow.

Despite my surroundings, a chill ran down my spine. I spun around and was faced with a ten-foot-long golden casket, sitting on a velvet dais. Engraved on it were Ancient Greek scenes of death and destruction. If I looked too long, focused too closely I could hear the flames crackling as they burned down cities, hear cries of agony from fallen heroes. My breath caught and I looked away, over the casket and out one of the many arched windows that curved across the back wall.

It was dark outside, but I could make out what looked like the stern of a ship. From there, it was a stretch of dark water and dark sky. The water reflected back the sky so well, I almost couldn't tell where the ocean stopped and the sky began.

The sound of doors opening grabbed my attention and I spun around again to see Luke step through the double oak doors leading into this room. He had changed since the last time I saw him, or maybe I hadn't been paying attention the last time, but either way he wasn't dressed in his normal garb. His camp tee had been replaced with a button down. His shorts were now khakis. And his sandals were now leather loafers. His hair had been trimmed and groomed, his bangs sweeping over to one side.

He was followed in by an _empousa_. She would've been really pretty in her midnight blue, sleeveless evening dress if her skin wasn't chalk white and she didn't have red eyes. Her flaming hair didn't really match the color of her dress and she walked awkwardly because of one of her legs being that of a donkey, the other leg being made of bronze.

They made their way to where I was standing and though it was a dream, I quickly moved out of the way, standing behind the sofa opposite of the sofa they took a seat in. The _empousa_ sat way too close to Luke for my comfort. I also noticed she had something in her hand.

Luke didn't look pleased, but I wasn't sure if it was because of this monster's closeness or because of something else. His face was set in a deep scowl, highlighting his scar, his eyebrows furrowed, his eyes conflicted.

"I can't do it," Luke finally said, glaring at the coffee table.

"Oh, Luke—" the _empousa_ started.

"I _can't do it_ , Kelli," he repeated, looking over at Kelli, I guess, meeting her sinister red eyes evenly.

"Can't?" she asked her voice just as cold as Luke's eyes. "Or won't?"

Luke looked back at the coffee table. "She's my friend. I can't do this to her." His voice was ragged. I wondered who they were talking about. He said friend… maybe Annabeth?

" _Was_ your friend, now she's a tree," Kelli corrected. Oh, Thalia. Why were they talking about Thalia? "Zeus turned her into a tree, remember?"

Luke's hands fisted, his jaw tightened, and I thought for sure he was going to pull a Celestial bronze weapon from somewhere and dust this monster, but he restrained himself.

"I know," he said darkly. "I was there."

Kelli smiled like she enjoyed seeing his anger. Suddenly, her image flickered, or that could've been my imagination. Her skin went from chalky white to a beautiful coffee color. Her hair stopped flaming and became brown and curly. Her eyes no longer glowed red. She looked gorgeous. But as she scooted just a little bit closer to Luke, her image flickered again and she was back to the usual _empousa_ look.

Putting an arm across the back of the sofa, she leaned toward Luke, to whisper something in his ear.

It shouldn't have, but the little green monster reared its ugly head. Her body language clearly said flirty. I could tell she liked Luke and it made me frustratingly jealous that she was so pretty when controlling the Mist. I knew Luke loved me and he'd never go for her, especially because she was a monster underneath the Mist, but I couldn't control my emotions.

As Kelli continued to whisper in his ear, Luke's face cleared. His eyes glazed over, almost became dreamy. I wanted to say something, to stop the charmspeak that she was probably doing to him, but I wasn't really in this room. I had no power here.

Movement caught my eye and I looked at Kelli's hand to see her coax open Luke's fist and slip a small vial full of an odd green substance into his hand.

Kelli pulled away, smiling wickedly. Luke's face cleared, but he looked shaken, his eyes were stricken. I wanted so badly to go over to him and comfort him, but I couldn't and it broke my heart.

He took a deep, shaking breath and let out it.

"Okay," he whispered. "I'll do it."

The _empousa_ gripped his shoulder. "Have a little more faith here, Luke. You wouldn't want to insult the titan lord, now would you?"

Luke glanced warily over at the casket. He seemed to shake off his uneasiness and stood, gripping the vial.

"I'll be back," he told her in a hard voice, his eyes having hardened into blue crystals. Without another word, he exited the stateroom. I looked back at Kelli and jumped out of my skin when I realized she was looking straight at me.

"Enjoying the show, little godling?" she asked. I didn't know what to say to that. Even if I did, I didn't know if she would be able to hear me. Clearly she could tell I was here, though. "I have a little surprise waiting for you back at camp. Can't wait 'til you see it." With that she lunged at me

I bolted upright in bed, a small yelp making its way out of my mouth. I was breathing hard, my heart pounded painfully against my ribcage, and I'd developed a thin sheen of sweat on my forehead. I rubbed my neck, the feeling of her fingers wrapping around my throat still lingering.

I looked around the darkened room to see if I'd woken anyone up. No one stirred. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in and dropped my hand from my neck. Heart still hammering against my chest, I slowly laid back down, taking deep breaths and trying to calm myself down.

As soon as my head hit the pillow I remembered the vial of green liquid that Kelli had handed Luke and sat up again. That seemed important. Vitally important.

They'd been talking about Thalia's tree before Luke was given that vial. So the two were connected. Coming from a monster that liked to kill demigods, I didn't think that whatever was in it was good. Also, Luke had said he couldn't do something because Thalia had been his friend, so that had to mean whatever he was being asked to do was going to hurt her tree…

Poison. That was the only thing that came to mind. An odd green liquid in a vial? That was classic, textbook poison. So, then, why? Why poison Thalia's tree? What would that even do…?

I gasped before covering my mouth and looking around the cabin again. Someone shifted and mumbled something, but stayed asleep.

Thalia's tree is what radiated the magic border that kept the monsters out of camp. If her tree was poisoned, the border would be too. It only made sense. My other dreams suddenly become crystal clear. Maybe not the ones in the hallways, or being out at sea, but monsters in camp? That confirmed they'd gotten past the border. But it wasn't because they were getting stronger, the barrier was getting weaker because Thalia's tree was dying.

Without really thinking, I threw the sheets off of me. I quickly dressed and left the cabin, trying to be quiet but quick (which I'd become very good at). I probably should have grabbed a weapon, but if I was right, I wouldn't have time to break into the armory (you learn things after living in the Hermes cabin for six years) to grab any of my weapons (handcrafted by the Hephaestus cabin to fit me perfectly, just by the way). Besides, if it was Luke who was coming, maybe I would be able to talk to him. No weapons necessary.

I ran across camp, hoping beyond hope no harpies would catch me, and straight to Half-Blood Hill. The moonlight shone, helping me see, but I couldn't tell if someone was standing next to the tree or not. When I got to the crest, I saw no one. No Luke, no monsters, nothing. All was quiet.

But something had changed. Now that I was actually paying attention, the moon seemed dimmer, somehow. The grass on the hill seemed to droop, like it was sad or sickly.

I made my way over to the tree, examining it, squinting my eyes, trying to see if something about the tree had changed. My first time around I didn't notice anything, but upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was oozing sap. It was too dark to tell the color, but the sap was coming from bullet-sized hole about three feet from the ground. I instantly looked up and noticed that some of the pine needles on the lowest bough of the tree were slightly discolored.

I was too late. Luke had already poisoned Thaila's tree.

I couldn't avoid not going to Chiron any longer. I had to tell him. I sprinted back down the hill and straight toward the Big House. I was a little afraid of waking up Chiron in the middle of the night, but this seemed more important than sleep. The whole camp and everyone in it was now in jeopardy.

I launched myself over all three steps and was just about to bang on the door when I heard what sounded like a strangled scream that cut off abruptly coming from the cabins. I froze, panting, my fist raised and half-way to the door.

Then I remember Kelli had told me something before I'd woken up… What had she said?

_I have a little surprise waiting for you back at camp. Can't wait 'til you see it._

My stomach dropped and my heart went into overtime. I completely forgot about Chiron and ran across the porch, vaulting over the railing, hitting the ground running, toward the cabins. Could the poison really work this fast? Were monsters already able to break through the barrier?

I stopped as I came up to the cabins, my answer staring me in the face. Yes, they could. If they were strong enough.

There were two people, well one demigod and one monster, near the Apollo cabin. The monster was straddling the half-blood, who was lying on the ground not moving, its face buried in the camper's neck. The light coming from the fire in the middle of the inverted U of cabins showed me what looked to be a girl, who was dressed in jeans and camp t-shirt, but I had a feeling she wasn't a friendly, considering her skin was deathly pale. Also it looked like she was taking a bit out of the other person's neck. I had a feeling that if I pulled up the legs of her jeans, I'd find one donkey leg and one bronze leg.

Another _empousa_.

I edged closer, staying close to the crackling fire, trying to assess the situation, see if there was any way I'd be able to fight this monster without getting killed myself. I froze when I saw the face of the camper she was feasting on.

I gasped, sucking in a sharp, shaky breath, his name falling from my lips, "Dan?"


	12. Worst of All

Seeing him so ghastly pale and not moving was jolting. It hurt quite a bit more than I thought it would. Not that I thought about Dan being on his death bed often. I mean, I _had_ thought about it, because we were demigods, and our lives were so dangerous, but it wasn't like I thought about it every day or something.

My brother and I have had and still have a difficult relationship, as you can imagine, but I was very protective of him. Technically speaking, because I came out of the womb first, I was older. And I guess, because of that, I felt protective of him. To know someone had hurt him, _was_ hurting him, that he was almost dead—maybe even…no, I didn't want to think about it—made me so irrationally angry it shocked me.

Only, too late, I realized that the _empousa_ hard heard my gasp.

My ADHD kicked in as the monster stopped what she was doing. Time seemed to slow tremendously, like everything was moving through molasses. As the _empousa_ sat up I looked around the clearing for anything I could use as a weapon. The fire might slow her down, but I didn't think it would wound her or kill her. I needed Celestial bronze…

Then I spotted something winking at me with the reflection of the firelight. It was near Zeus's cabin, like it'd been tossed away. It was smaller than the usual daggers or knives we had at camp, but it was my best shot. I just needed to find a way to get to it.

My time was up. The _empousa_ had sat up fully and turned to stare at me with those vicious red eyes.

As soon as our eyes locked, I barreled toward her. First thing, I had to get her away from Dan. I wasn't sure if he was still alive, but either way I was not going to let her eat his flesh. I couldn't scream for help either, because if Dan was still alive she'd probably kill him before anyone could help. I wasn't about to take that risk.

The _empousa_ stood to face me. At the last moment, I twisted my upper body so that when I crashed into her, my shoulder rammed into her chest, sending her backward. She stumbled, not expecting this, tripping over Dan's body and landing on her back. But she used this momentum to do a backward somersault. She no sooner landed in a crouch before she lunged at me, fangs bared. She was fast, despite her lopsided legs.

I just barely managed to sidestep her attack, spinning around so I could face her. She came at me, her claws swiping at my face. I dodged and stepped back, before blocking her other swipe and kicking her in the stomach. She stumbled back, confused again but that confusion quickly turned into a sneer.

"No weapon, demigod?" she taunted.

"Oh, I've got one," I lied, trying not to let my fear show. Maybe if I could get her to land in the fire…

I took a step to my left experimentally. Just as I hoped, she took a step to her right, watching my movements closely or maybe trying to decide if I did have a weapon or not. I continued to move to my left until my back felt like it was roasting.

Her eyes narrowed. "You're lying." She decided right before she lunged at me again. I dove to my right. I didn't hear a scream, but the fire roared like something huge and flammable had just been tossed into it. I didn't have time to think about this or look back, because I needed to get to that knife, or whatever it was.

I got to my feet and sprinted toward Zeus's cabin. I was only a yard away from the weapon when a hand grasped the back of my shirt and threw me down. The impact knocked all the air from my lungs, stars danced across my vision. I gasped helplessly for a few seconds, trying to get my lungs to work again.

When my vision cleared and I could breathe again, the _empousa_ was standing over me, smirking triumphantly. Her clothes were smoking with burnt holes here and there, but she looked pretty unscathed.

Without warning, I rolled onto my side, simultaneously swinging my legs at her ankles. She went crashing to the ground as I pushed myself up to my feet again. I tried to sidestep her as I went for the small dagger, but she grabbed my ankle and I went sprawling, my right arm outstretched, fingertips brushing the dagger. I allowed myself a brief moment to look back to be able to kick her in the face with my free foot. My heel connected with her nose, there was a loud crunch and she hissed in pain. I used this momentary distraction to close the infinitesimal space between my hand and the dagger, and grasped the weapon.

Now that I was closer, I realized it wasn't a dagger, or even a knife. It was a letter opener. A flashback threatened to take over my senses, but I forced it down because I could feel the _empousa_ looming over me. Though, the situation I was in right now was sickeningly similar. As a last ditch effort, I turned, still on the ground, arm outstretched, ready to impale her, but she caught my wrist easily.

I tried to pull my wrist out of her grasp, but she twisted my arm, forcing me to let go of the letter opener. She then pushed me completely on my back on the ground, before straddling me and pinning my arm down with her hand. I tried to punch her with my free hand, but she caught that too and forced it to the ground. She put her bronze foot on my wrist, before folding her donkey leg underneath her and laying that on my right wrist.

I was completely immobile.

Still, I struggled, trying to pull my arms away from her, but she was so strong. The more I struggled the more pressure she put on my wrists, the more pain spread through my body.

Breathing hard, I glared up at her as she smirked down at me.

At this time, I probably could've screamed for help. We were in the middle of the cabins, so a bunch of kids who were trained to fight monsters would've burst out and surrounded us. I didn't really care if she killed me, as long as Dan was safe, I was fine with dying. The only reason I didn't was because I'd completely forgotten where I was. The world had shrunk to contain only me, my brother and the _empousa_.

"It was a nice try, but you're _weak_ ," she spat. "So is your little camp. Soon, it'll be all in flames, your friends? Dead." I spit in her face. Her hair flared. Suddenly her hand was gripping my neck and our noses were almost touching. The pressure on my wrists, however, didn't lesson.

"You are in no position to disrespect me," she growled, her claws for nails dug into the base of my throat and I yelped, instinctively trying to pull away. She pulled back slightly, her other hand grabbing what was left of my hair and forcing my head against the ground, exposing more of my neck. She drug one of her nails along the length of my throat, making me cringe.

"I thought you only fed off boys," I commented, glaring at her.

She smiled wickedly, her eyes flashing. She stopped stroking my neck with her nail. "Oh, I'm not done with your brother," she said, glancing over her shoulder at his unconscious body. "He's still alive, by the way." She turned back to look at me. "But just barely hanging on by a thread."

My anger surged, tinging my vision red. New energy surged through me. "Are you the _little surprise_ Kelli sent for me?" I ground out through gritted teeth, struggling—uselessly—to get out from underneath her once again.

The _empousa_ chuckled. "You like it? That brother of yours is quite handsome. I'm glad Kelli picked you."

"So, _what_? You're just going to kill me now and get back to your meal." I stumbled on the word meal, referring to Dan like that made my stomach roll.

"You wish," the _empousa_ quipped. "Oh, no, Kelli sent me here for you. Your brother was just a little extra. You could even call him payment."

I ripped my hair from her grasp, lifting my head and my shoulders off the ground to get into her face. "How dare you refer to him like that—" I broke off when she dug one of her sharp nails into the base of my throat, slowly forcing me back to the ground.

I was breathing heavily again, wanting to rip her head off but being unable to. It was infuriating.

The _empousa_ followed my right collar bone with her nail as soon as I was on the ground again before stopping abruptly and digging it into my skin. It was kind of like how a needle punctures the skin, sharp and quick, only a thousand times more painful. A choked yelp escaped my mouth and my whole body tensed. I stopped breathing.

Grinning horribly, meeting my eyes, she started to pull her nail through my skin. A scream bubbled up to my lips but before it could come out, her other hand clamped over my mouth. That didn't stop the scream, but it lessened the noise. I fought against her legs, to free my wrists, my back arched, my heels dug into the dirt as I kicked. I turned my head away, like I could escape her, escape the pain, by doing so and I squeezed my eyes shut, tears pouring from them.

It was like being sliced open with a scalpel, only I was awake and _very_ aware. It was only just barely worse than when the hellhound had shredded my shoulder and the back of my arm, because at least that had been quick. The _empousa_ was cutting so slowly, the agony seemed to last forever. I couldn't tell when she stopped with one cut and began with another, if she even stopped at all. All I knew was pain.

She finally finished and removed her hand from my mouth. I was breathing heavily, each breath shaky and gravelly, like more screams trying to come out, but my body not having enough energy to make them proper. My whole right shoulder throbbed. I could feel the blood from the cuts trickling to the ground.

It had felt like eternity, but had to have only been a minute or two.

"Bored now," she said. I looked up at her through the corners of my eyes, too exhausted to turn my head. "Time to say goodbye." She lifted her hand, pointing her index finger to the sky. I watched in horror as her nail flashed in the firelight, becoming about a foot long and wicked thin in the blink of an eye.

I couldn't move as she positioned this nail-dagger, letting the tip rest against the place between my neck and shoulder. It easily pierced through my skin—my yelp was small, almost silent, and my body tensed, but my energy had hit zero—sliding through tissue like it was nothing. I wasn't sure what she was aiming for (lungs, heart?), but I figured "goodbye" meant "dead."

I kept my eyes open. I wanted to see the sky, the stars, in my last moments.

It seemed so unfair to have it end like this. After everything I'd been through. To die in a place that I called home. That was painful to think about. Or, it could've been from the injuries I'd sustained.

I tried to put a positive spin on it. At least I was home and not in the middle of nowhere, starved, cold and hungry. At least I could see the stars. Maybe Dan would be okay. Maybe before she could finish him off, by some miracle a camper would come out and save him. It was highly doubtful, but positive, right?

Just when I thought for sure it was all over, the _empousa_ suddenly froze, her eyes widening, her mouth dropping into an O, in a silent scream. There was a moment where nothing happened, then, with a horrible shriek, the _empousa_ burst into sulfurous dust, leaving her nail still embedded in my body.

The _empousa_ 's fiery hair and red eyes dissolved and was replaced by a mop of brown hair and very concerned blue eyes. The person standing over me was holding the small celestial bronze letter opener in one slightly shaking hand.

"Conner?" I managed, through the fog of pain. Both my hands, now that they were finally free, went up to touch where the nail met my skin. I felt a warm, sticky substance coat my fingers and swallowed hard. Then I remembered Dan and tried to sit up.

Conner quickly dropped to his knees and pushed me back down carefully, only touching my left shoulder.

"No, don't move. Some of the Apollo kids are coming over," he told me. I shifted my head as much as I dared (I didn't want to jostle the nail, afraid it might hit its intended target and kill me) to look around the camp. As Conner had said, the Apollo kids were up and surrounding who I assumed was Dan. Travis was with them. I watched as a few of them picked Dan up and started toward the Big House.

The rest of the camp was waking up too. The _empousa_ 's scream hadn't been quiet. Lights glowed from inside cabins, campers came out half-awake and confused, murmuring and muttering things. Before the Apollo campers could get to me, a group of kids from the Ares, Demeter and Athena cabins were surrounding me, inquiring Conner what was wrong, what had happened. They noticed my wounds and started whispering in each other's ears.

"All right, enough!" a guy's voice yelled from behind the crowd. "Give her some room to breathe, people," he shouted. The group parted and Lee Fletcher, the head counselor for the Apollo cabin, came forward. He was Asian, so his skin was a shade darker than mine and his straight, short jet black hair was a bit disheveled, probably from waking up so abruptly in the middle of the night. But he had startling, deep blue eyes. They reminded me of Apollo's blue eyes.

Lee knelt down on my right. He gently pulled my hands away from my sounds and examined them. I wasn't sure if he was purposefully not meeting my eyes.

"Is Dan…all right? Is he still…alive?" I asked him. Lee finally looked at me.

"He lost a lot of blood, but he's still alive, for now." Lee told me in a very calm, cool voice. It was surprisingly comforting. "Some of my siblings have taken him to the Big House. Which is where we need to get you. But first, I need to remove that…whatever it is from your neck."

Lee stood and removed his shirt, wadding it up before kneeling down next to me again. He held his shirt in one hand and took the nail in the other.

Looking at me, he said, "I'm going to remove it now." I nodded and held my breath. It was quick and didn't hurt nearly as much as it had going in, thankfully. Lee then pressed his shirt up against the wound to stem the bleeding.

"Conner, help me get her up. We need to get her to the infirmary as fast as possible." Lee instructed. Conner nodded and together they put my arms around their shoulders and hauled me to my feet, Lee keeping a pressure on my puncture wound with his other hand. The world spun and my ears rung, but I stumbled forward as the two boys helped me to the Big House.

It could've been because of the blood loss or because of the pain, but when we got into the infirmary and I saw a part of the room sectioned off by a white curtain, all concern for myself went out the window. Suddenly all my mind could think about was Dan. Was he behind that curtain? He had to be, I didn't think anyone else had gotten hurt tonight. So, what was happening to him? Why did they need that curtain? Was he even still alive?

I started to pull away from Lee and Conner, toward the white curtain, but Lee tightened his grasp on me.

"You need to sit down and let me treat you, Tori," he warned in a stern voice.

"I need to see Dan," I responded. "I need to see if he's all right. I just want to make sure he's still alive…" My voice cracked, the image of that _empousa_ feeding off of him, his ashen skin, flashing behind my eyes. I wanted to see him with color, I wanted to see that he was _breathing_.

"Chiron and the others are doing their best. Will is with them. He's our best healer. I'm sure Dan's fine. But you won't be if you don't let me treat those wounds," Lee told me as both he and Conner half-dragged, half-led me over to a cot. I sat down hard onto the edge of the bed, my legs giving out for a moment, but started to stand up again almost immediately.

"Tori," Lee scolded, putting more pressure on my wound, but also keeping me seated. "You need medical attention."

"I just need to see Dan," I pleaded, though my voice was just barely a whisper. "Just real quick, please." I started to get up again and more people descended on me. The other Apollo campers who weren't with Dan had followed me here, and almost all of them grabbed for my arms, or put hands on my shoulders to keep my seated.

This only made things worse.

The feeling of hands gripping my limbs and forcing me down was too reminiscent of the first time I was admitted to the mental ward. I'd thrashed and struggled but six of the orderlies had grabbed my arms and legs and held me down against my will as four more orderlies had pinned my wrists and ankles to the bed.

I panicked.

"Don't _touch_ me!" I snapped, pulling away from everyone, and backing into a corner where the small bedside table and cot met. I felt adrenaline I couldn't afford to use up course through my body.

I glared at the group—which consisted of half the Apollo cabin and Conner—surrounding me. Their eyes were wide, shocked, surprised, confused. My shoulder throbbed painfully and I put my hand up to put pressure on the shirt that had managed to stay on when I'd pulled away from Lee.

I was still half-stuck in my memory. My glare wasn't angry, it was frightened. I was trembling and I couldn't tell if it was because I'd lost so much blood—still was—and was forcing my body to still function, or because of how scared I was.

The cots here didn't have any restraints that I could see, but my mind was stuck. I breathed heavily, my eyes darting around the group, watching for signs of movement. I was a cornered animal ready to attack. It really didn't help that I was hurt.

Lee slowly stepped forward, regaining his composure. I tried to back up further, but when I realized I didn't have any more space, I tensed, my free hand fisting, ready to fight. Lee quickly held up his hands in a surrender gesture.

"Hey, it's all right," he said in a soothing voice. "We just want to help." He turned his head slightly to the side, to address the group, but kept his eyes on me. "Cressida, will you go inquire about Dan, please?" He turned his head back to face me fully as a girl, maybe fourteen, darted off toward the white curtain. I watched her go before warily turning my gaze back to Lee, who'd taken another step forward.

We all waited in a tense silence for Cressida to return. When she did, she pushed her way to the front to stand at Lee's right flank.

"Dan's still alive," she told me. "He's getting a transfusion, as we speak. He's going to be fine, Tori."

I swallowed hard, my hand furling and unfurling. Okay, so he was okay. This _wasn't_ a mental hospital. I could calm down. I could relax. I would let them treat my wounds so long as they didn't try to grab me again. Okay, relax.

I took a few deep breaths before slowly stepping out from my corner and sitting down on the cot. Lee lowered his arms and sat down next to me, slowly. I angled my body so that he could see my shoulder a little better. The rest of the group let out a collective sigh.

Lee carefully removed his ruined t-shirt from my wound.

"I'm going to pull the collar of your shirt down a little so I can look at those, cuts, okay?" he said softly. I nodded. He peeled back my shirt, because it had soaked up a lot of blood, and examined the cuts. He looked up, over my shoulder at the group. "I'm going to need some nectar, ambrosia, some gauze pads and a role of medical tape, please. Quickly!" His eyes focused back on me again as I hard multiple footsteps run off. "I'm going to need you to take off your shirt." His tone was kind of embarrassed, but at this point I didn't really care.

It took me way longer than it should have, but moving my shoulder around with so many wounds was impossible without feeling some pain. They throbbed and ached and bled more, and the process was slow, but I finally got my shirt off. I was panting and my head spun. Throughout this struggle, campers came over and handed Lee the things he'd asked for.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, fighting to stay upright, against my better judgment. Lee was currently tending to my lacerations. I winced as he poured some nectar over them.

Lee paused momentarily, confused. He looked at me. "For what?"

"Freaking out on you guys back there," I clarified. "You were just trying to help."

"It's fine," Lee assured, eyes going back to what he was doing. I was pretty sure he was going to say something else when I suddenly pitched forward. I heard him call my name but my world went dark.


	13. Fear of Falling Apart

When I woke up again, it was light out. I was still in the infirmary, lying on a cot. A soft blanket covered me. I had a new t-shirt on. I blinked the sleep from my eyes and peeked under my collar. There were three thin, pink lines starting from underneath my right collar bone and going down at an angle about six inches. I realized with a shock that that's where the _empousa_ had cut me. Even after all these years of healing and watching healing, it amazed me that it now looked like I'd been scratched by a cat instead of sliced open by an _empousa_. No stitches, no huge, noticeable scars. The food of the gods and Apollo kids' healing powers did wonders.

A gauze pad had been taped to where I'd been impaled, though. More damage than lacerations, I supposed.

Slowly, I sat up. My shoulder was only slightly sore.

My poor shoulders. First my left had been shredded by a hellhound (rehab had been a nightmare, but the ambrosia helped tremendously), and now an _empousa_ had sliced her way through the other like I'd been some sick operation game for her to experiment and play with.

"Tori," someone said from the end of my bed. I looked to see Chiron in his wheelchair form. "I know you've just woken, but I need to ask you about what happened last night."

I gasped and sat up before starting to look around the infirmary. "Dan, where's Dan—?" I broke off when I saw him lying in the cot next to me. The color had come back to his skin and I could see his chest rise and fall gently. My whole being relaxed, my breathing suddenly felt easier, my muscles less tense. Tears stung my eyes.

I blinked rapidly to dispel them, remembering Chiron wanted to talk to me about last night. I looked back at him and told him my story, from my dream about Luke all the way to when I finally arrived at the Big House for the second time. Chiron looked grim when I finished.

"This isn't good," he finally murmured contemplatively. "I must go examine her tree at once." Without missing a beat, he started to stand from his wheelchair. Well, it looked like he was standing up, but really, he was pulling his lower horse-half out of his magic chair. With a nod to me, he galloped out.

I sighed, throwing my legs off the bed, so I could sit on the edge, and looked back over at Dan's sleeping form. I felt a smile pulling at the edge of my lips. He was alive. Thank the gods. Then I noticed something resting on the bedside table between our two cots. My breath caught and my smile faded. It was the bronze letter opener.

It couldn't have been the same one I'd used to kill the hellhound so long ago. It couldn't have been the same letter opener that had been in my mom's possession for as long as I can remember. Yet…there it was. The same as I always remembered it.

It was fashioned like Godric Gryffindor's sword, but the silver of the sword was replaced by Celestial bronze (it even had the engraved name of Godric Gryffindor). The hilt remained the same. I remembered always thinking how much the two colors clashed when I was little.

Where Mom had gotten it, I wasn't sure—Apollo maybe?—but it'd been in our house at least since Dan and I were born.

With a shaking hand, I slowly reached over for it. I had just wrapped my fingers around it when someone else's hand covered mine. I jumped and started to pull away, but Dan's fingers, which were very warm, wrapped gently around my hand, keeping it where it was.

I looked over at Dan's cot to see him awake. He'd even sat up, though he looked worn and just a tad bit paler than usual. I must've been so caught up in my own thoughts to not notice that he'd woken up.

"Hey," he greeted quietly, letting go of my hand. I dropped the letter opener and pulled my own hand back into my lap.

"Hey," My voice was ragged and I cleared my throat self-consciously. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks to you, so I'm told," he responded.

I glanced at the letter opener before reaching forward to pick it up.

"You never told me you had this," I said, turning it over in my hands.

"I know," Dan mumbled. "I guess I thought you'd want it if you knew. And that's the only thing that I have that belonged to…Mom." His voice broke. I looked back up at him. I could see the tears in his eyes. It was almost comforting to know that he still teared up when thinking about Mom, like I did.

I set the letter opener back on the table. "No, I wouldn't have taken it from you." I said. "Besides, I have her guitar…" I swallowed hard. "How did you even get it, though? I thought it'd be lost in some evidence locker at the police department."

Dan took the letter opener into his hands and fiddled with it. "It almost was," he started. "They thought maybe it'd been used against Mom, but when they realized that it was an _animal_ that attacked you guys, it no longer counted as evidence. There was no blood on it, pointing what type of animal either. So, they released it to me." He set the opener down. "I'm not sure if they're technically allowed to do that, but I convinced them with a few tears."

I laughed, in spite of myself and Dan joined me. It felt good to laugh with him again. To laugh at all, because it felt like I hadn't laughed for a while.

"Well, you were quite the actor," I told him, as our laughter died down. "Still are."

Dan looked away. His smile became wistful and I suddenly felt horribly guilty for bringing that up.

He loved acting, and theater, participated in it whenever he could. Usually ended up with the leads of our small school plays and musicals. He'd really wanted to become an actor—Broadway first, then the silver screen. But then our mom died and we found out we were half-god, that monsters were real and wanted to kill us. Our lives spun out of control. His dream had to be put on hiatus. There was no telling how long it would last now that we didn't go to school anymore. Now that death was higher on the list than anything else, always.

"I'm sorry," I blurted. "I didn't mean to—"

"No, it's fine," Dan assured, though I wasn't convinced in the slightest. He took a deep breath. "It's fine." He repeated a little quieter, not meeting my eyes. I looked down at the floor, internally scolding myself for bringing that up. It had been going so well.

It became awkwardly silent between us. After our separation, we'd never really been good at conversation. Not including the fact that I'd brought up an especially touchy subject. I was better than _that_ , usually.

Anyway, as I said before, deep down, a small part of me resented Dan for being claimed. It wasn't like he could help it, but that anger toward him was still there. Now that I knew why Apollo hadn't claimed me, I suppose I was also jealous that he wasn't as angry at Apollo as I was. I _wished_ that I wasn't so bitter, then maybe I would've been claimed alongside Dan. But I wished that our mom was still alive more than anything.

Last night had made me realize something, though. And it was the fact that, despite everything that had happened to us, I still loved my brother. I loved him dearly, and thinking that he could've died last night was almost too much to bear. I realized that he was the only family I had left and the way I'd locked him out hadn't been fair to him at all.

I looked back up at my brother. He was fiddling with the letter opener again.

"Dan," I said to catch his attention. He slowly looked up. "I'm sorry we grew apart after Apollo claimed you. I was hurt and confused. I felt humiliated and like Apollo didn't care about me. I was angry at you, even. But I shouldn't have pushed you away like I did. You're my brother and with Mom gone, you're all I have left. I just want you to know that I care about you, that I love you and I'm sorry."

Dan smiled. "I forgive you," he said. "And I love you, too."

I couldn't help the relieved grin that spread across my face. It still felt awkward between us, but I felt like a weight had just been lifted from my chest. I could breathe a little easier now. Saying those words had been easier than I thought, but it was nice to say them. They'd rolled off my tongue so smoothly.

Dan's smile slowly disappeared, a nervousness taking its place. My own smile faded and I swallowed hard. That wasn't good.

Dan looked down. "As long as we're confessing things, I might as well—" He looked back up at me but broke off, his eyes flickering to something above my head. "Don't look now," he muttered. I instantly looked up to see a bright, almost too bright, hologram of a…lyre. I couldn't tell you exactly what color it was because it was like a mini sun had just appeared over my head: white, yellow, orange, like the sun.

I stared up at it in awe, Dan's confession being momentarily put on the back-burner. I wasn't quite sure what to think about it. I mean, I had mixed feelings. Part of me felt good, actually. To finally be recognized. I could finally move past the indefinite awkward moment. I could join my brother, and my half-brothers and -sisters. I didn't have to live at camp knowing I didn't belong in the Hermes cabin.

Part of me was still angry, would probably always be angry, at Apollo. For everything: not helping my mom, not claiming me when he claimed Dan, the things he told me during that trip to Mount Olympus.

That's when I figured out that I could feel good, but not necessarily happy, because I wasn't. I wasn't happy at all.

The hologram started to fade just as Chiron clopped back into the infirmary. I turned to look over my shoulder so I could see him. He seemed slightly startled but it lasted about a second before he smiled, though his eyes were distant—probably thinking about Thalia's tree. It wasn't looking too good for the camp, then.

I saw him start to kneel and quickly held up a hand.

"Please don't," I said.

His smile grew, his eyes crinkling at the edges and clearing a bit of their grimness.

"I will go inform the Apollo cabin," he said. His face darkened. "Then we need to talk about what's happened to Thalia's tree." I nodded and he exited again. I turned back to face Dan.

"What about Thalia's tree?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Long story, I'll tell you later if Chiron doesn't talk to camp about it tonight at dinner." Dan nodded. Another silence started to form between us. I didn't think I believed I'd just been claimed.

"I don't have to help lead those camp sing-alongs, now, do I?" I finally asked with mock dread in my voice.

Dan smiled and rolled his eyes. "Not if you don't want to. They're honestly not that bad, you know." I snorted. Dan continued, going in a direction I wished he hadn't, "But I think you should. You have a beautiful singing voice." He paused. "You sound like Mom, actually."

I looked down at the floor again, wringing my hands. "Please, don't say that." I mumbled.

"It's true," Dan responded. "You remind me so much of Mom…" He broke off. His voice had gone raw. I looked back up at him.

"Don't do this," I whispered pleadingly.

"You need to hear this," Dan said, his voice wavered though. "Besides, I was going to tell you this anyway, before you were claimed." I had almost completely forgotten about what Dan had been about to say. My brother continued, "You're not the only one to blame for the wedge that was driven between us. When you told me what happened to Mom, I was angrier at you than I was at Apollo. And it wasn't that I wished you had died instead of Mom—I wish she hadn't died at all—but it was because you reminded me so much of Mom and it _hurt_ —" His voice broke.

"Dan," I tried, but he interrupted me.

"But I realized something, too," He spoke with more fervor. "I'm lucky to still have you. I'm lucky that you were still alive, even though you'd been so badly wounded. I care about and love you, too, Tori." He swallowed hard. His voice had gone back to a whisper. "You remind me so much of Mom, and it hurts. But…it's almost like she never left. Our memories of her, _you_ , keep her spirit alive. And that's comforting to me."

I blinked and tears I hadn't realized formed, streamed down my face. I took a deep breath and wiped them away. I looked at everything in the room except for Dan. I was even more confused. So many emotions swirled inside me. It made me feel slightly dizzy and sick. Being claimed, re-kindling that relationship with Dan, hearing Dan tell me that I reminded him of Mom…

"Will you sing?" Dan suddenly asked. I finally looked at him, stunned. "I want to…I want to hear you sing. I haven't heard you sing in so long."

"I don't know…" I rubbed my arm, feeling self-conscious. I didn't think I sounded like Mom at all. She had a much prettier singing voice.

"A short song, then. Please?" Dan insisted. " _The Parting Glass_?" I smiled a little at this, one of our favorites. One of the songs I requested she sing a Capella frequently.

I swallowed hard and took a breath. I let my eyes go into a soft focus. I got the first two lines out, kind of shaky and infused with ragged emotion, before the memories and emotions seemed become so overwhelming my voice stopped working altogether. But Dan helped by picking up where I'd left off. I focused in on him and he met my eyes. He sang the next two lines before I composed myself enough to continue the song. He held my gaze as we sand the song together, a baritone and alto.

At the end of the song, Dan stopped and let me finish the last two lines. There was a moment of silence before I heard clapping behind me. I jumped and quickly turned to see Lee and Chiron. Both were clapping. Lee was also smiling.

I felt my face flush and turned to look at Dan.

"You knew they were there," I complained.

He shrugged. "They came after I asked you to sing, honest. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to stop."

Lee came to stand between the two beds, at the end. "Dan was right, you've got an amazing voice," he complimented.

I glared at Dan. "I thought you said they hadn't come in until after I started the song."

He rolled his eyes. "I can't talk about my twin sister to our half-siblings?"

My face felt even hotter. "Point taken," I muttered.

Lee laughed and I turned my glare on him. He quickly stopped, but was only just barely trying to hide it.

"I just came to welcome you to Cabin Seven," Lee told me through stifled giggles. "Also that we've moved your things."

I shot up to my feet, panic seizing me. "My guitar—" I started.

"Don't worry, it's fine. We were careful." Lee assured quickly. I hesitantly sat back down again. I knew I could trust them. They were musicians, they knew how to handle their instruments, but I didn't like other people touching my guitar. Even if it was weathered musical artists. The only other person I would really extend the curtesy of touching, holding or playing it was Dan. I suppose, if it was just for a little bit, it was okay. But just this once.

"I think everyone here knows not to mess with Tori and her guitar," Chiron's voice sounded, startling me. I'd forgotten he was still there. "But now we must get onto more important matter." He gave me a pointed look. "I hope you are feeling up to a stroll, Tori."

I nodded mutely and stood. Chiron exited the infirmary.

"Thanks," I told Lee as I passed him. I turned back around to look at Dan. "I guess I'll see you later." I paused. "Uh…both of you." My eyes flickered from Dan and Lee. With a final nod, I followed Chiron out.

He was waiting on the porch. When I came out he started toward the strawberry fields and I froze.

"Is there a problem?" Chiron asked, noticing my hesitancy.

I swallowed hard. I'd have to face my fear some time or other, right?

"No, I—" I took a deep breath. "I'm fine. Just leftover stuff from what happened last night. I'll be fine."

Chiron looked at me skeptically before finally starting forward again. I walked at his side. I concentrated on staying as far away as possible from the vines while also trying not to encroach on Chiron's own walking space. I kept my eyes on the ground and inhaled the sweet smell of baking strawberries in the summer heat.

"Tori," Chiron began. "I don't want you telling anyone that what happened to the tree was because of Luke. I need you to keep that a secret for now, okay?"

"What? Why?" I was shocked, to say the least. I mean, it wasn't like I wanted everyone knowing that Luke, my boyfriend, had done something to his former home—though how much he thought of it as a home was questionable—but at the same time, it seemed like a vital piece of information people should know about.

"The titan lord is no doubt up to his tricks," Chiron explained. "I cannot have the camp knowing that he is trying to rise. Not yet." He paused. "Also, it would not boost the morale, to be betrayed by our own. And we need them ready to fight, to protect the camp from monsters until…until I can find a cure." His confidence wavered when he mentioned a cure.

I took a deep breath. "Okay, I swear on the River Styx." Thunder rumbled in the distance and I tried not to shiver. "But there is a cure, right? You can heal the tree? I mean, you've been alive for centuries. Surely there's a cure. There has to be."

Chiron was silent for a long time. With each passing second, dread slowly set in.

When he spoke, his voice was carefully controlled, "The poison used comes from a monster in the deepest parts of Tartarus. Ancient. And powerful. Thalia's tree is dying at a rapid rate, and with it the border that protects this camp." He paused to let that sink in. "I will look, but I fear that the answer won't lie in any potions textbook…" He trailed off. I could see the gears turning in his head, despite how beaten he sounded. "Things are going to change around here."

"Why do I get the feeling you're not just talking about the camp needing protecting against monsters?" I blurted. Chiron looked down at me warily before letting out a heavy sigh.

"The gods will need someone to blame," he told me. "I'm afraid that I might be the one."

"But, Luke—"

"You heard what Percy said about the gods last summer, Tori," Chiron interrupted. "This is a matter they aren't willing to discuss." This made me wonder why they'd even come after me then. Why they'd questioned me if they were in denial about this whole Kronos trying to rise thing, about Luke being his number one puppet. As if he'd read my mind, Chiron amended his statement, "Not openly, anyway."

"That's not fair to you," I finally said. I vaguely wondered what would happen if I did leak that the titan lord was trying to rise again. I'd probably be blown to smithereens. Which only begged the question why the gods I'd talked to hadn't told me to keep my mouth shut. Then again, it wasn't like you went around bragging they'd interrogated you in a torturous way because you just happened to have a romantic relationship with a traitor. Maybe that's what Dionysus had really been for: a scare tactic. Apollo was just salt to the open wounds.

"It's not," Chiron agreed, breaking me out of my thoughts. "But I'm afraid I have no control over what they decide."

"Then, tell them… tell them that I had a dream that told me that Luke poisoned the tree. I mean, they must know demigod dreams have weight to them, right?" The guilt was starting to build up. The necklace, being a spy. Now this. Chiron being blamed for something I could've—should've—prevented.

"That would only make things worse for you. You aren't in the gods' good graces, Tori. Laying low is your best option. They would only pin the blame for Thalia's poisoned tree on you." Chiron responded.

More guilt.

"Why would you do that for me?" I asked without really thinking. Chiron stopped, only I continued walking not realizing it. When I did, I stopped too and turned to face him. His face was devoid of emotion as far as I could tell, but his eyes were sad. So sad, my heart stopped.

"You are my student," he told me quietly. "I wouldn't let you take such blame. My punishment will probably be losing my job here. Your punishment would be much worse." His voice had gone to a whisper when he mentioned my punishment. Which wasn't comforting.

That's when the sorrow in his eyes clicked for me. It reminded me of a mournful sorrow, a deep pain. Like the death of a loved one… Or a mentor who waits up for a hero that never returns.

I suddenly felt like I was on my deathbed.

I almost blew it right then. I almost told him that I was helping Luke by spying on the camp. All the guilt was becoming crushing. I supposed losing his job was the least harsh punishment that could happen, but for Chiron that had to be like the end of the world. He'd spent centuries training demigods. He'd seen countless battles, wars and deaths. But also miracles and heroes. Losing all that couldn't be an easy concept for him. Yet, here he was, ready to give it all up to protect me, a traitor.

"Chiron—" I started, ready to spill the beans and face whatever punishment may come, but he cut me off.

"Don't worry about me," he said gently, the sadness in his eyes clearing, a soft smile forming on his features. "I'll be fine." His expression darkened. "It's the camp I am more worried about."

And I lost my nerve.

I finally looked around at the strawberries, the blue sky, the summer sun, beyond the fields to the Big House, the volleyball court, kids in orange camp shirts running back and forth to and from activities, my home.

"Yeah," I whispered nodding, looking back at Chiron. "Me too."

Chiron and I headed silently out of the fields and split up from there. I went over to check out my new cabin and Chiron went back to the Big House to inform Mr. D what happened, and no doubt, Mr. D would go inform the gods. At the very least, Zeus. After all, Thalia had been his daughter.

That night Chiron announced what was going on and border guards were worked out, times scheduled.

A day later, our new activities director, Tantalus, a ghost plucked straight from the Fields of Punishment, arrived. Chiron would stay at camp for a little while longer to show Tantalus the ropes, so to speak, before leaving.

Two weeks later, with the camp's border's weakening hour by hour and a steady pile of yellow pine needles forming at the base of Thalia's tree, the Colchis bulls attacked.


	14. Occupational Hazard

So the story goes. Though, the scorch marks on Half-Blood Hill and the wounded Ares campers provided pretty good evidence. I was told by Dan and some others in our cabin about what happened later, that the Ares cabin had been on guard duty when two Colchis bulls attacked. They were having a bit of trouble getting them under control but Percy, Annabeth and their Cyclops friend showed up and helped them out.

I was busy doing chores. And by chores I mean laundry. And by laundry, I don't mean just Cabin Seven's laundry, I mean the laundry for _all_ the cabins.

Why? Because Tantalus—who always wore an orange jumpsuit with the number 0001, had choppy grey hair and dark, pitiless eyes—asked me to. And I couldn't refuse an order from our new activities director, especially when he's got Mr. D behind him.

I couldn't really figure why he'd taken such a severe disliking to me, but these past two weeks had been horrendous. I'd done dishes with the harpies twice now, once every week I was told, and laundry countless times. I'd scrubbed the outside bathrooms at least four times, cleaned out the stables four times, and had to dust and vacuum through the first floor of the Big House almost every day. And that didn't include cleaning up the rec room before curfew at night.

After dinner I was so exhausted from these tasks and my activities I skipped the bonfire—not that it was very fun anyway, with our camp dying and all—and went straight back to the Apollo cabin. I couldn't even enjoy my new cabin because whenever I was in there I was asleep!

What I can tell you was that it wasn't nearly as crowded, didn't even come close, and I got my own bunk, even a chest to store my things in and a guitar stand.

The inside was about as bright as the outside, but contrasted in that it wasn't a golden yellow. Almost everything in the cabin was a varying shade of white, with orange colored accents so you weren't drowning in white. One wall was completely painted with chalkboard paint—the only dark thing in the room. Small shelves of chalk were scattered about the wall, so you could write poetry, draw pictures, etc. It was pretty cool.

The floors were a matte ghost white ash wood. The bunks were made from a very, very white-washed spruce wood. The walls were ivory, but decorated with posters of musicals and music sheets and artwork for splashes of color. There was even some word art with short poems painted on the walls here and there. The color of the words was a vibrant orange. The sheets on the beds were decorated with soft orange music notes on swirling scales. The comforters, big, poofy, and warm were the same vibrant orange as the words painted on the walls. The ivory pillowcases had silhouetted musical instruments on them, which were colored a yellow-orange. The curtains at the windows were transparent and a light orange.

From what I saw of them, my half-siblings were nice enough. Dan (obviously), Lee, Will and Cressida were very welcoming. The others weren't as warm, so to speak, but they weren't downright snobby either. I think it was mostly because of my time in the master's archery class with them, honestly.

As I was saying, though, I didn't know why Tantalus was punishing me. I couldn't exactly question our new activities director, but I was beginning to get very tired of doing menial chores and tasks like I was some kind of maid. At the same time, I was so afraid of questioning him because that'd mean I was indirectly questioning Mr. D. After my experience with his grapevines, I could've gone a lifetime without having to speak with him and it wouldn't be long enough.

Either way, I was starting to get tired—figuratively and literally—with all this work. Even though I slept like the dead, throughout the day, I'd find myself dozing off or falling asleep. Thankfully, living in the Hermes cabin for six years had taught me how to sleep lightly. I could rest my body but still be in a low state of awareness of the things going on around me. If something was happening or the atmosphere in the room changed I'd wake up completely alert.

So, with all the dryers going, I jogged to the dining pavilion where the last couple of the cabins were filing in. The Apollo cabin had already sat down, but Dan had saved me a seat next to him. He always sat on my left, because of my scars. They were easy to feel through my shirt, if you were to pat or rub my shoulder, because they were so thick and jagged.

I quickly got up to go scrape some food in the brazier before sitting back down, resting my elbow on the table, chin in my hand, and falling asleep...well into that half-sleeping, half-aware state anyway. I'd been doing this for the past two weeks, too. Dan nudged me awake about half-way through dinner because he was concerned I wasn't getting enough to eat.

In truth, I probably wasn't. My breakfasts were always quick and light because I had so many things to do during the day. I gave myself at least a half-hour for lunch, but that's still not a lot of time to eat a nice, big meal without getting sick. By the time dinner came around, I was already half-asleep.

I remember hearing quite a bit more talking than normal, one of the voices sounding angry, but not angry enough for me to wake up fully. I recognized Tantalus's voice. The other voice sounded like Percy's, but I couldn't be sure because I hadn't seen him all year. I'm sure it had been entertaining—Dan told me later that Percy looked about ready to throttle Tantalus at one point—but I was too tired to care at the time.

Half-way through, just like he always did, my brother nudged me awake and convinced me to eat something. My food was still pretty warm, which was nice, but I ate slowly and sluggishly. The noise around me made my head pound and the flickering of the flames in the brazier was distracting.

I don't know how much I managed to get down, but I must've dozed off again, because I was jolted awake when Tantalus exclaimed, "Another fine meal!" I let out a heavy sigh and tried to pay attention. I didn't look up to the head table, but listened as I picked at the food I hadn't finished, eating some of it.

"Or so I'm told," Tantalus muttered. "I'd just like to reiterate for our new arrivals what a wonderful punishment it is to be your new activities director, and that during this summer I hope to torture—er…interact with each and every one of you." I snorted. He was sure torturing _me_. "You all look good enough to eat!"

I wiped my hands and finally looked up at the head table. Standing next to Tantalus was a Cyclops. I assumed it was the one Percy and Ananbeth had come with, considering I hadn't heard of any other Cyclops arriving. The poor monster looked so uncomfortable it hurt. As Tantalus talked, he tried to sidle away, but Tantalus always noticed and reached out a grubby, dirty finger-nailed hand to grab him and pull him back.

"And now some changes!" our new-ish activities director continued giving the campers a crooked grin, a mean gleam in his eye. "Mr. D and I have talked _at length_ about this and have finally come to a decision: we are reinstituting the chariot races!"

I would've been more shocked had I been more awake. As it was, the rest of the camp was shocked enough for me, shocked and excited and anxious.

Tantalus continued talking, over the voices, "Now, I know that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems—"

"Three deaths and twenty-six mutilation," Will, from our table, called out.

Tantalus waved his hand passively. "Yes, yes. But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition." It could've been the exhaustion, but the way he stated it made it sound like a threat. "Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month." he continued. "Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days' time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses." He paused to let that sink in. "Oh," His voice lit up like he just remembered something, "and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"

More excitement then last time broke out amongst everyone. I even perked up. I could feel a few of the Apollo campers' eyes on me. Living with me, they knew of my struggles. I didn't pay them any attention. He'd caught me with no chores. Did that include campers he hated and assigned so many to? If our cabin won…?

"But, sir!" someone exclaimed. I looked to see who it was.

Clarisse had stood up at her table. Her arm was in a sling and she had a sign that said, YOU MOO, GIRL! taped to her back. I couldn't help my slight surprise. A daughter of Ares, was objecting to something violent and potentially life-threatening?

"What about patrol duty?" she asked not hearing the snickering going on behind her back. "I mean, if we drop everything to ready our chariots—"

"Ah," Tantalus's eyes glittered. "The hero of the day." he complimented. "Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls!" Oh flattery, the second best to bribery.

Clarisse shifted from foot-to-foot. Her back was to me, so I couldn't see her expression. "Um, I didn't—" she stuttered.

"And modest, too," Tantalus said in admiration. "Not to worry my dear! This is summer camp. We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?"

"But, the tree—" She broke off as some of her siblings pulled her back into her seat and glared at her.

"And now," Tantalus quickly yelled to get everyone's attention once again. "Before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue." His evil little grin appeared on his grungy face again. "Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring _this_ here." He waved his hand in the Cyclops's direction.

Murmuring broke out yet again and a lot of people looked over at Percy who was glowering murderously at Tantalus at the moment.

"Now, of course," our activities director started, making it sound like it was obvious to everyone. "Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release the beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous." His head turned toward the Hermes table as he said, "Hermes's cabin, possibly?"

I was suddenly glad that I was no longer head counselor. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Conner, both looked down at their plates, not saying a word.

Tantalus clicked his tongue, disapprovingly. "Come now, the monster may be able to do some menial chores." I wished. I didn't think Tantalus would let me off that easily, but maybe the Cyclops would be able to help take the load off of me. I wasn't too keen on working with a monster, but he seemed harmless enough and if it got me more sleep, I say, go for it.

Tantalus continued, "Any suggestions as to where such a beast should be kenneled?"

No sooner had he finished his sentence did people gasp. Tantalus scooted away from the Cyclops in surprise. There was a stunned silence that spread across the dining pavilion. Above the Cyclops's head glowed a green trident. I glanced back at Percy who looked just as stunned as everyone else, but it was slowly morphing into a mix of anger and embarrassment and a few other emotions I couldn't read.

"Well!" Tantalus roared with laughter. "I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can see the family resemblance!"

The rest of the campers joined in with the laughter, save a few. I noticed Annabeth wasn't laughing. I wasn't laughing either. Half because I didn't find it funny. The other half was because I was the walking dead by this point in the day.

I slowly rose from where I was sitting as the Cyclops swatted at the now fading trident above his head, either oblivious to the laughter or because the glowing thing above his head was more concerning. I slogged my way back to the Apollo cabin, just barely making it under the covers before I passed out cold.

* * *

The next day I was woken up just as the sun was rising over the horizon by Tantalus banging on Cabin Seven's door like the world was ending. Turns out I'd been so tired, or so _done_ , I'd forgotten to clean up the rec room last night. So I was dragged out of the cabin at the crack of dawn still in my pajamas, just barely managing to put on a pair of shoes, to the Big House to clean up.

I fell asleep in one of the chairs in the rec room after I was done. Dan found me and got me back to the Apollo cabin, but my day had only just started. I also had to clean the stables, dust and vacuum the first floor of the Big House and do the laundry. On top of my other activities.

I suppose it wasn't entirely fair to say that Tantalus was causing my exhaustion. Part of it was certainly due to how much work I was doing around camp. The other half…well, I didn't want to slack off with my training with any of my weapons.

With Luke gone, I now trained one-on-one with an Ares camper for sword practice. Clarisse still dueled me with a spear. Annabeth still agreed to practice with knives, but she was much more cautious and she always made sure to have at least one other sibling with her when we did. And, of course, I went down to the range as often as I could to practice archery. No tree hoping, though, I was much to weary for that.

So, I guess I can't blame Tantalus _entirely_ for feeling so spent. I did like blaming him, though. It wasn't like he was completely innocent.

With Percy back now, he'd somehow found a way to worm himself into my life again. And it only took about a day or two. He requested to practice swordplay with the Apollo cabin one afternoon. We agreed even though apart from me, the rest of my cabin mates weren't as sword savvy.

I ended up sleeping through most of it. It wasn't like I wanted to, because, again, I was still pushing myself to train, but I'd hit the wall. A wave of pure fatigue dropped on me like a ton of bricks and I couldn't fight it. I blinked and the next thing I knew I was waking up to a sword pointed right between my eyes.

"Working hard or hardly working, _Victoria_?" Percy asked with a smirk. This annoyed me in a way that a younger brother would. What a smug little brat.

I pushed his sword away with my hand, standing and unsheathing my sword before he could bring his own back. I held the tip under his chin.

"Don't underestimate me, _Perseus_ ," I retorted. It was my turn to smirk. Percy's eyes narrowed.

"You're better than your siblings," he observed. I looked around the arena, not sure what I'd missed while asleep. The rest of the Apollo cabin was taking a water break and they look spent.

Percy took advantage of my distraction to push my blade away as I did his before counterattacking with his sword—a swipe to my head that I parried easily, my eyes going back to him.

"What happened to them?" I asked my eyes flickering back to my siblings before I jabbed. Percy sidestepped.

"I creamed 'em," he answered smoothly, lunging at me. I blocked. He pulled his blade away and thrust it down toward my head. I lifted my own sword to intercept.

"Somebody's riding their high horse," I commented.

"Well, my father did create horses from sea foam," Percy responded with another smirk before we pulled away, our swords scraping, creating a shower of sparks. We stood back, swords at the ready, analyzing one another.

"Aren't you a sarcastic one," I said.

He shrugged. "I try."

"Think you can beat me?"

He grinned. "Oh, I know I can."

"Sarcastic _and_ cocky," I remarked. "All right, ready when you are."

His eyes narrowed, but the grin didn't leave his face. "Ladies first."

I attacked and pressed him hard. The thing was, we were both trained by Luke, the best swordsman there'd been for centuries. But despite my six years of training under Luke's wing, Percy pressed back just as hard. Sword fighting seemed to come naturally to him, just as archery had come naturally for me. For him having only been here for one summer, I found myself getting a good workout. Better than the practice I did with the Ares cabin, no offense.

A lot of people's swordsmanship, compared to Luke, was just below par. But not Percy. And I wasn't sure if I found that exciting or frightening. Probably both, in all honesty.

By the time that my sword clattered to the floor with Percy's sword pointed at my chest, Percy and I were breathing hard and an audience had gathered. There were some cheers and some groans as money was exchanged.

Had this been a real battle, I would've kept fighting with the moves I'd learned from the Ares campers during our wrestling activity. However, seeing as this had been a duel with swords, I'd clearly lost.

Percy lowered his sword. I could see he was impressed in spite of the fact that he'd won.

"You're rather good," he commented as I picked up my sword.

"You're not so bad," I replied with a crooked smile, as I sheathed my own sword. "We should do this more often." I'd said this mostly joking—he would've been a great partner to practice with—but Percy looked like he was seriously considering it.

I looked around the arena for my siblings. Some had left with the crowd, others were chatting with some audience members, loitering. Tantalus suddenly appeared at my side. I almost pulled my sword on him.

"You're late," he chided, his dark eyes gleaming with that cruel amusement. I let out a half-grown, half-sigh and rolled my eyes.

Percy asked, "Late for what?"

"I have to go," I said, turning to look back at Percy, ignoring his question. "I'll see you later." Before he could question me more, I shoved my way past Tantalus.

"Temper, temper," Tantalus called as he followed me out.

* * *

These past few weeks, I hadn't had any nightmares and/or dreams. That or I didn't remember them. Tonight was different. As soon as I closed my eyes I was thrown into one.

At least, I thought I was. It was very disorienting because I was in the stables. Summer sunlight poured through the open doors and windows. A nice breeze blew in the scent of strawberries. The pegasi were in their separate stalls, taking a nap or chewing on some hay.

At first I thought that I was beginning to have black outs for some strange reason or another. That I'd woken up and done my daily things but hadn't even remembered. But I'd already cleaned the stables this week. I mean, I cleaned them twice a week, but I'd done that at least a day or two ago, so I was good for another day or so.

That's when I heard soft cooing coming from one of the stalls. Not sure what was happening, I crept over to where the noise was coming from, keeping as quiet as possible, just in case.

In one of the stalls, Silena was grooming one of the pegasi, softly praising the winged horse for how beautiful it was and such.

Someone cleared their throat from behind. Both Silena and I jumped and turned to see who it was. Standing in the doorway of the stables was…

"Luke," Silena exclaimed, nearly dropping her brush and blushing. So this was definitely a dream.

He gave her a crooked smile and slowly walked up to her, straight past me, hands casually in his pockets. He leaned in the doorway to the stall Silena and the pegasus resided.

"What are you doing here?" Silena asked, turning away from the pegasus momentarily to face Luke. "Where have you been? You just… disappeared at the end of last summer—"

"I know," Luke interrupted. "I know. It's…complicated. I…I wanted to talk to you about something, actually."

Silena looked even more flustered at this. "Wha—what do you mean?" She swallowed hard, blinking rapidly, shifting to her other foot. She gripped the brush in her hand nervously.

Luke pulled his hands out of his pockets and straightened up.

"Hey, calm down," he said in a soothing voice, going up to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. "There's no need to be so nervous." There was a hint of laughter in his voice.

"I'm not— What makes you say that?" Silena asked breathlessly as Luke dropped his hands and chuckled. Silena swallowed hard again. Her face was slowly turning red. "What did you want to talk to me about?" she squeaked.

Luke's back was to me, so I couldn't see his expression, but his shoulders tensed.

"Well, about that," he started, turning away slightly. "Just hear me out and don't freak when I tell you, okay? Promise me?" he asked, facing her again.

Silena took a step back, whether it was conscious or not, I wasn't sure.

"Hey, you can trust me," Luke assured gently, not making a move to advance. He kept his hands out of his pockets, at his side.

"Tell me," Silena requested in a hard voice, though she still looked nervous.

"Promise me, please, Silena," Luke pleaded.

She looked at him carefully. "Okay," she said slowly. "I promise."

Luke didn't hesitate, "I need you to do something for me. It's a really important job and you're someone I know I can really trust. I'm going to reach into my pocket now and pull out a bracelet." Slowly, his right hand went to his pocket. Silena's eyes watched his movements, her body was tense, the knuckles on the hand that was grasping the brush were white.

Just as Luke said, he pulled out a charm bracelet with a single charm on it. I recognized it instantly. I had the necklace version.

He held it out for her. She reluctantly took a step toward him and snatched it out of his hand, examining it closer.

"It's…beautiful," she murmured. "But this charm…is this…is this a-a scythe?" Her eyes went back to Luke.

"Yes, it is," Luke answered slowly.

The daughter of Aphrodite glanced back down at the bracelet. "Why-why are you giving this to me?"

"It's a magical charm," Luke explained. He reached up and pulled something from the collar of his shirt. I saw a gleam of some metal and figured it was probably a necklace like mine. "They'll let us communicate."

Silena shook her head confused. "Communicate? What—Luke, I don't understand. You're not coming back to camp? You're just visiting?"

"Yes, I'm just visiting. As I said, I needed to talk to you."

"Wait a second," A look of realization spread across Silena's face. She looked back down at the bracelet still in her hand. "A scythe. A scythe!" Her head snapped back up, blue eyes as wide as a doe's. She started to slowly back away from Luke. The pegasus whinned and shifted nervously, sensing her distress.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Silena," Luke told her in a calm, low voice. He took a small step toward her. Silena didn't move, but that was because she'd hit the end of the stall. Luke continued to advance slowly, carefully taking her hand into his when he was close enough.

My own heart stuttered in my chest. I didn't like where this was going.

"I really like you, Silena," Luke said quietly. "You're sweet, smart, and beautiful."

I could see the conflict in Silena's eyes and on her face, but her eyes suddenly flashed and hardened. She ripped her hand from his and shoved him back.

"You're working for Kronos!" she accused. The air grew cold as it usually did when you said his name. "I don't want this. Take it back!" She threw the bracelet at Luke. He easily caught it before it could hit his face. Silena had good aim.

"Silena, I picked you because I _trust_ you," Luke said. "Please, do this for me— No, not for me. For all the dead, the unclaimed, the ignored, because of the gods' ignorance." He held the bracelet out for her.

"You want me to spy on camp!" she hissed. "How can you think I'd do that?"

"I need to know what's going on at camp while I'm away. If I don't, things could break out into more chaos. More people will die. If you do this, you'll be saving lives." Luke's voice was soft and pleading. Hard to resist.

He reached out again, for Silena's hand. She jerked her hand away but Luke persisted, grabbing hold of it and gently slipping the bracelet into her hand, but not letting go.

"Why should _I_ trust _you_ ," she asked, though she didn't make a move to pull her hand away.

"I'm doing this _for_ us. I want a better life for _us_. You saw it last summer! Poseidon _used_ Percy because he didn't have anywhere else to turn. Percy could've died because of Zeus's arrogance." Luke took a step forward. About an inch separated them. And he still had Silena's hand in his. "Please, Silena." he whispered. There was a moment's pause as Silena contemplated this before Luke leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

I sucked in a sharp breath and turned away. I didn't want to watch. I couldn't. I felt tears sting my eyes. My heart felt heavy. The gods' voices I'd worked on for _months_ to dispel hit me full force again: _He doesn't love you. He's using you. He only said he loved you so you'd keep his secret. He_ doesn't _care about you._

"Okay," I heard Silena whisper, bringing me back to dream turned nightmare. I hesitantly turned back to see what was going on. They were still standing close together. Still holding hands. Silena gazed up at Luke. Her eyes were a swirling mess of emotions, doubt, confusion, worry. "I'll do it," she confirmed.

"Thanks, Silena," Luke said. "Thank you so much." He squeezed her hand and kissed her again, quickly, before letting her hand go and starting toward the stall door. "You won't regret it," he told her over his shoulder as he exited and the vision slowly faded.

* * *

 **The little "you're rather good"-"you're not so bad" thing came from BBC's Sherlock episode,** _**A Scandal in Belgravia** _ **, because I couldn't find a different way to phrase it. Don't fix what's not broke, you know?**


	15. If it's Quite All Right

I sat up the rest of the night, thinking about the vision I'd just had. All my previous, unwanted fears came rushing back to me, invading my thoughts, haunting my mind. And I couldn't get rid of them. No matter how hard I tried. Because every time I dispelled a worried thought the scene of Luke leaning down to kiss Silena flashed before my eyes.

My heart ached more, my breath felt more labored, my eyes stung with unshed tears. My worries doubled, tripled, quadrupled. A never-ending spiral of doubt and misery. The gods' words resurfaced every now and again, reminding me they were there. And every single time it felt like I was being shot with a nail gun in my chest or my head.

Luke had kissed Silena to get her to cooperate with him. He'd used the fact that she liked him to get her to do what he wanted. So who's to say that Luke wasn't going the same with me?

That was a dizzying thought. I wanted my brain to come up with counter arguments to maybe ease some of my worry, my pain, but it was too caught up in the worry and pain to do so.

Staying up the rest of the night wasn't my smartest choice. Even if I had managed to fall asleep, I probably would've had dreams that would've woken me up anyway. So, either way, I was going to be exhausted in the morning. More exhausted than I usually was. The next day was also the day that the campers would compete in the chariot races.

I'd been looking forward to it, hoping that I'd be able to watch the Apollo cabin pull out a win and maybe I could get a small break for a little while. I would've helped, but I was so busy with chores and sleeping just to stay alive to really be of any help. Then I found out that Tantalus wanted me to scrub the bathroom floors during the races.

I was livid, to say the least, but he'd told me with Mr. D standing by and my fear won out. I couldn't appose Tantalus. I didn't want to be punished for speaking out against him, especially not by Mr. D.

So, when the campers went over the newly made race track, I went to the outdoor bathrooms with a bucket, warm, soapy water and a brush to scrub the floors.

A fog had rolled in overnight, and since the bathrooms didn't have doors to the inside I was basically sitting in a cloud while I cleaned. I had a moment of feeling like Cinderella, kneeling on the floor and scrubbing until it was so clean it sparkled. But I would never get a Cinderella happy ending. I didn't have sentient animal friends who could help me make a dress of the ball. There was no fairy godmother who would come grant my wish. No Prince Charming waiting to meet me and fall instantly in love.

Instead, I'd probably end up dying (according to Aphrodite and her comparison of my life to Romeo and Juliet's). Instead of friendly animals, there were monsters. Instead of a fairy god mother, there was only the evil step-motheresque character that was Tantalus, only he was far worse. And Instead of Prince Charming and love at first sight, there had been a slow-built friendship-turned-romantic only to be broken by a kiss with another girl.

Some fairytale.

I shook those thoughts off as I scrubbed. I hoped it was the fatigue getting to me. I liked to think I wasn't usually one to dwell on such negative thoughts. Instead, I tried not to think about anything in particular, like meditation. I focused on the sounds of the brush's bristle's grating against the floor, the sound of the water splashing around as I got the brush wet and soapy again. If a thought came, I'd let it run its course and then gently ushered it out.

Scrubbing was a tedious task, but I somehow managed to quiet my mind for the time being.

I don't know how long had passed, but I was about half-way through the girls' bathrooms (I always did the boys' bathrooms first) when someone cleared their throat and I looked up from what I was doing. Dan was standing in the doorway. He was littered with what looked like red welts, or spots, and scratches. Some of them were slowly oozing blood. I was on my feet in an instant, dropping the brush and going up to him.

"Oh my gods, are you all right? What happened?" I questioned, gently taking one of his wrists and looking at marks. Now that I was closer I could see they weren't welts, they were…holes. Like someone had stabbed him with a very sharp pencil over and over again.

"Stymphalian birds," Dan explained, gingerly pulling his arm out of my grasp. "I'll be fine, but Tantalus said he wanted to speak to you in the Big House."

"He does?" I asked. My voice must've sounded disappointed or pained or a combination, because Dan gave me a sympathetic look and nodded.

My brother headed off, back in the direction of the racetrack. I went to the Big House and stepped in on the middle of the conversation between Tantalus, Percy, Annabeth and his half-brother. Mr. D was nowhere to be seen. Tantalus's back was facing me, while the three faced him. They looked up when I came in. Tantalus stopped whatever he was saying to turn and look at me with a cruel smile.

"You…uh, wanted to see me?" I asked hesitantly stepping in and closing the door.

"Yes," He waved his hand toward the three across from him. "Please, have a seat." I slowly walked up to the sofa Percy, Annabeth and the Cyclops were sitting on, but it didn't look like there was enough room for me. If there was, I didn't think Annabeth would've been willing to move. She was glaring at me like it was my fault we were here. I didn't quite know where this sudden animosity had come from. She hadn't glared me like that during our training sessions, but maybe she got enjoyment out of beating me up, so she had no reason to glare then.

Instead, as I came forward, I hooked the leg of a nearby chair with my foot and slid it over next to the sofa, before sitting down on it.

"I was just finishing up telling these three their punishment for such horrible chariot racing," Tantalus explained.

"…okay? And what does that have to do with me, exactly?" I ventured.

His eyes sparked with a callous light. "You'll be helping them with dishes after the luncheon banquet," he said.

" _What_?" I shot out of my seat, my hands balling into fists. "I wasn't even at the event!"

"Exactly," Tantalus exclaimed, delighted I'd just walked into his trap. "You weren't there to help get rid of the Stymphalian birds that attacked. You _are_ an archer, after all, aren't you?"

"That's not fair," I objected. "I was doing what _you_ told me to do." Tantalus shrugged, uninterested in this fact and my anger grew. I took a step toward him. "I have done _everything_ you have asked of me for _three weeks_ now. And I haven't so much as uttered a complaint or stepped out of line. But I won't stand for _this_. I've already done my weekly kitchen duty. I don't see why I should have to do it _again_ , when I was doing what _you_ _ordered_ me to do when those birds attacked."

Tantalus stood, taking a step toward me.

"Careful, girl," he warned, his rancid breath washing over me. I held my breath so I wouldn't gag, but didn't step back. I wasn't going to let him intimidate me. "You best remember who's in charge here. You wouldn't want to be expelled, now would you?"

"This a camp, not a boarding school," I spat, not willing to back down. I'd had just about enough, he was running me ragged.

"Maybe," Tantalus conceded, "but it's _my_ camp, now. My world, my rules."

"Why do you hate me so much?" I finally asked.

Tantalus grinned wickedly but a different voice responded to my question, "You know why."

I jumped, recognizing the voice, and spun around to see Mr. D standing at the entrance to the hallway. He slowly made his way to our group. I watched him carefully as he moved, as he walked past me, coming so close I could smell the grape scent coming off of him. Coming so close, I had to force myself not to back away and whimper. I was still deathly afraid of his vines, his constricting, suffocating vines. But I wasn't about to show that to Tantalus, who'd sat back down, or the other three still in the room.

Mr. D took a seat next to Tantalus, a Diet Coke popping into his hand. I continued to stand, not taking my eyes off him. I could feel my heart beat erratically in my throat. I shifted from foot to foot and my hands furled and unfurled.

"Keep objecting, Valerie—" Mr. D started after a long drink of his soda.

" _Victoria_ ," I corrected through gritted teeth.

"—and your whole cabin will be punished with extra work." Mr. D finished, ignoring me. "I don't think they'll like that very much, will they? Seeing as they didn't win the chariot race, either." He met my scathing gaze evenly when his eyes suddenly flashed with purple fire. I remembered when he'd first appeared to me in that weird flashback/dream. His eyes had glowed like that right before the vines had started to kill me.

I took a deep breath and swallowed my outrage and fear, lowering my gaze to the floor. I had to remind myself he was still a god. And what Chiron had told me. I wasn't in their good graces. I wasn't sure what that meant, but clearly, they had freedom to possibly turn me into a plant or an animal, invade my dreams again and/or torture me. I was still being punished.

Then it dawned on me why Tantalus hated me so much. Mr. D must've told him my involvement with Luke. And even though I was pretty sure he hated the gods as much as Luke did, if not more, he wouldn't hesitate to punish me like he was doing. Giving me all these chores, wearing me down to complete exhaustion by the end of the day.

Slowly, I sat back down, my whole body tensed like a cobra getting ready to strike, I had so much anger surging through my system.

"No," I finally managed to say, answering Mr. D's question.

"No, _what_?" Mr. D prompted.

My eyes snapped back up to him. "No, _sir_ ," I amended with difficulty.

"Good." Mr. D looked over at Tantalus. "Anything else to add?"

Our new activities director raked his eyes over the four of us before looking back at Mr. D. "I don't think so." He turned back to us. "You're free to leave. Just don't forget your duties. Dismissed!"

I shot up from my seat again and stormed out the door. I finished the bathroom as fast as humanly possible before dumping the cleaning supplies and going back to the Apollo cabin.

I stood near my bed, in the corner that was made at the head of it and the wall. For comfort's sake, I had asked for a bottom bunk that was pushed into the cabin's corner. I was glad no one else was there, probably at that stupid luncheon, because I started crying. I tried to make it quiet as tears poured down my face and my shoulders shook. I didn't want to lie down, so I stood, facing the corner and sobbed.

It was in the middle of my sobbing did I have a sudden epiphany and I abruptly felt stupid for feeling so sorry for myself, coming up with that stupid anti-Cinderella fairytale. I'd been miserable and down in the dumps this morning, but it was like my brain, with less water weight now that I'd cried it out, was putting it into perspective.

Luke had a new spy. That meant that I could go join him on that ship that I saw in my dream. There was nothing stopping me now. He didn't need me to keep tabs on the camp and it wasn't like I liked it much here anymore anyway. Tantalus was treating me like a housemaid and Mr. D was using my fear to keep me in that act.

Now I had nothing holding me here. I could go seek out Luke. Besides, it was beginning to look like we needed to have a _serious_ chat about our relationship.

I was already feeling better, just thinking about it. My tears dried up and I straightened up. It was about time I stopped wallowing in self-pity and did something about it. In fact, now that I thought about it, I was angry at Luke. I was done being in the dark about what he was doing. He had promised to tell me everything—well, it was about time he fulfilled that promise.

As I grabbed a tissue to blow my nose, I thought about leaving tonight. I'd need to somehow get my weapons, a bow and quiver of arrows would do nicely too. Oh, but then there was the small detail of even finding Luke's ship. I felt the necklace in my pocket. I could ask him, maybe, but I wanted my arrival to be a surprise.

Though, I did wonder why he hadn't contacted me yet. I'd figured out that he'd recruited Silena about a couple of days ago, so that'd given him a couple of days to contact me. Maybe he was busy. Either way, I was going to see him _very_ soon. One way or another.

I checked the time on the watch I'd gotten from the camp store. Good, I wasn't late for my ridiculous kitchen duties.

I was in the middle of blowing my nose when the door opened. I quickly turned away from whoever was coming in, because I knew I still had tearstains on my cheeks. My eyes were probably red and bloodshot, too. A dead giveaway.

They said softly, "There you are." I recognized Dan's voice. I continued to blow my nose before trying to rub off the tearstains from my face without it looking like that's what I was trying to do.

"H-hey," I stammered, my voice still sounding course. I only briefly looked at him over my shoulder, hoping he wouldn't notice I'd been crying.

"You okay?" he asked, stepping in and closing the door.

"Fine," I croaked then cleared my throat, cursing silently.

"Not coming to lunch? Big feast. Fried Stymphalian." I heard Dan take a few steps toward me. I still didn't face him, grabbing another tissue and blowing.

"Uh, I'm not hungry," I finally said, wiping my nose.

"I'm not opposed to dragging you there."

"Dan—" I tried, slightly turning so I could glare at him.

"You need to eat," he interrupted. Then his eyes narrowed and took a few more steps toward him. "You sure you're okay? It looks like you've been crying—"

I turned away again and said, "I'm sure." in a much stronger voice.

"Then face me," Dan countered. I sighed. He had me there. Slowly, I turned, keeping my head down. When I saw his sandals, I lifted my head, not meeting his eyes. He took in my red eyes and nose. I noticed he no longer had cuts, scratches or puncture marks.

"Talk to me, Tori," he said after a long silence. "I'm your brother. You can trust me. What's gotten you so upset?"

"It's nothing, really," I tried to object. Dan crossed his arms, pursed his lips and glared at me. "You know what's gotten me so upset—all these chores that Tantalus keeps making me do. He's trying to kill me!" It wasn't a complete lie. My tears had been from _all_ the stress: the chores, what I'd seen last night….

"Is that what he wanted to talk to you about at the Big House?" Dan asked gently, uncrossing his arms.

"Yes," I sighed, looking away again. "Kitchen duty after the _banquet_." I spat the last word with contempt.

Silence. He'd learned by now I didn't like to hear he was sorry. I turned to throw away my used tissue. When I turned back around to face him, his arms were open. I hesitated but walked into them and his warmth engulfed me. It was always strange to me that he always seemed so much warmer than I was. Dan rubbed my back comfortingly.

There was something keeping me here, after all. That was Dan. And all my other half-siblings, I supposed. Chiron, definitely, even though he wasn't here anymore.

I'd enjoyed my time in the Apollo cabin and it hurt to know that I would be letting that all go if I went to find Luke. I didn't know if they'd accept me back if anyone found out that I was with Luke. It wasn't like I was joining his side, but the people here wouldn't care. All they'd see was that I was a traitor who'd joined Kronos's side.

That's what I was, though. A traitor. A spy. But I was doing this for them. My home, my half-brothers and -sisters, my family, Chiron, my brother. I was going to try to stop this before it got too far, too out of hand. I didn't know if I'd be able to, but I had to try. Especially for Luke, because I loved him.

I sighed and pulled away from Dan, looking up at him.

"Why do you look so sad?" he asked.

"Whatever happens after today," I started, meeting his eyes. "I just want you to know, no matter what, that I love you. I will always love you."

"What do you mean by that?" my brother asked, worried now.

I didn't answer him. I hugged him again, only this time I actually wrapped my arms around him.

"I'm sorry that a rift formed between us, but I'm glad we were able to reconcile," I mumbled. And I was. I was hoping, by telling him this, that after all this was over, if I survived, or if he found out that I'd gone looking for Luke, he wouldn't hate me.

Dan's arms reluctantly came around me again. "Tori…" he tried. "I don't understand. You make it sound like you're saying goodbye."

I kept silent, but I could feel a new wave of tears filling my eyes. I fought to keep them down.

"Come on," I said in a thick voice pulling back but not looking at Dan, afraid I'd break if I did. "We should get to that feast." I headed for the door. Dan didn't follow, but I kept going, hoping he'd unfreeze soon. I was going to leave either way because I didn't want to give him time to question me.

"Tori," Dan finally said as I was half-way out the door. I took a deep breath and swallowed the sobs that were sitting in my throat before slowly pulled back to look at him. "I love you, too."

I managed a smile before continuing forward. Dan followed this time. The luncheon was in full swing by the time we got the dining pavilion, but no one seemed to have noticed our absences. The Ares table was too busy celebrating and praising Clarisse. The other tables didn't look as enthusiastic, especially after a monster attack, but it looked like everyone had been healed up and were enjoying the fried Stymphalian. Eating a monster. _That_ was a concept I hadn't heard of until now.

I couldn't tell you what they tasted like. Everything that touched my tongue tasted like cardboard. My body was starving, needing nutrients and energy. My mind was split between wanting to curl up for the rest of the summer and sleep, and going to find Luke. I turned out whatever was going on for the rest of the meal.

When it was time to clean up, I headed down to the underground work area with Annabeth, Percy and the Cyclops. The harpies were already there. They glared at me but said nothing. Still bitter over the times I'd dusted them, probably. Couldn't blame them too much. They hated working with me and I hated working with them, so it was a win-win.

The four of us stood in a line in front of a lava sink and got to work. Percy and Annabeth talked in hushed tones. I stood next to the Cyclops who seemed to be enjoying himself, sticking his hands right into the lava. I knew that they were fireproof, but it was so weird to see someone who looked so human do that. I'd gotten used to wearing the gloves and apron.

Even though it was miserably humid and hot, I was just glad that I didn't have to do all these extra dishes alone. I had a feeling, even if Tantalus hadn't punished the three next to me, he would've still ordered me to help clean up.

As I cleaned I absently watched as the Cyclops made toy boats out of cups and spoons. I also thought about how I might find Luke's ship without alerting him that I was. There wasn't much other options, was the problem. The ocean was _huge_. I didn't know where to look, for one. For two, I didn't even have any kind of transportation in the first place.

I sighed and lifted the plate I'd been scrubbing out of the lava to see if I'd missed any food.

"So," the Cyclops said suddenly, startling me. "What is your name?"

I blinked and looked up at him, his one big brown calf eye.

"Uh… Victoria," I stuttered, turning back to the dishes. "But I like to be called Tori." I looked back up at him. "What's your name?"

He smiled, showing off crooked teeth. "Tyson. I am Percy's brother." He seemed so giddy about this fact I almost smiled along with him.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Tyson," I said, turning back to my work. "Brother of Percy." I tacked on, trying not to grin. Something about how happy he was, was amusing in a very innocent way. I wasn't making fun of either of them. It was nice to have something to smile about. Tyson had found something. Maybe I should, too.

"Who is your dad?" Tyson asked.

I tried not to sound angry and/or spit his name through my teeth as I answered, "Apollo."

"The god of music…?"

I sighed. "Music, poetry, healing, archery, reason, prophecy, light. The sun." I don't know why I felt such a need to list off everything that he was the god of, but it was like this stupid compulsion that I couldn't fight. If someone didn't list all of them, I had to finish the list. It was an annoying habit I tried to stop, but found I couldn't.

"Do you sing?" Tyson continued. For some reason his question startled me (again) and I dropped the plate I'd been cleaning. I snatched it back up and tried to answer without stumbling over my words.

"Uh, yeah, I do," I mumbled, glad that it was humid down here and my face was already red. Also that he wouldn't be telling me I sounded like my mom, seeing as he didn't know her.

"Will you sing a song?" he asked in such a shy, timid voice I couldn't get myself to say no.

"Do you…have any songs you like?"

"Do not know names," Tyson said sounding so disappointed, like I could only sing a song he knew the title to. Still, it would've helped. I was suddenly blanking on any songs I knew, which were quite a lot.

"Maybe you could hum the tune? Or tell me the first few words…?" I suggested, racking my brain for a song, still coming up blank, which was thoroughly frustrating. Tyson seemed so sweet and innocent, I hated seeing him looking so down. I _wanted_ to sing for him now, just to cheer him up. See him smile like when he'd proclaimed he was Percy's brother.

There was a moment of silence and I looked up at Tyson, whose face had a look of concentration. I waited, watching him, only half-paying attention to the dishes. I really should've been focusing on that, though, because we were working with lava and not water.

This only lasted a few seconds before Tyson started hesitantly humming a familiar tune.

I looked down at the lava, and tentatively sang the first two lines. I was planning on stopping to ask him if it was the right song, but when I looked up at him again he was smiling again and nodding profusely. I figured that meant I'd picked the right song. It was _Can't Take My Eyes Off of You_ by Frankie Valli.

I sang kind of quiet at first, very conscious of Percy and Annabeth also being down there. But after the first two songs, I nearly forgot about them. Tyson and I were having a lot of fun, dancing in place to the rhythm and scrubbing the dishes as he hummed songs he'd heard and I sang them. He really liked the 1960's era of music. It was a good thing my mom had too. I was able to sing almost every song he threw at me.

It was nice to dance and laugh and sing. I felt very care-free. My life felt _almost_ normal. At the very least, I could pretend that Luke wasn't under the influence of Kronos. That our camp's border was failing. That Tantalus didn't hate me. That the gods didn't hate me. That my life was probably going to be short and end painfully….

I was ready for bed by the time dinner came around, but as I was heading back to the Apollo cabin as everyone else unenthusiastically went down to the amphitheater for the campfire and sing-along, Tantalus caught my arm.

"Going somewhere?" he asked with one his trademark wicked smiles.

"What do you want?" I deadpanned, too tired to care. His grip tightened frighteningly on my arm, for someone so frail. He waited. "To my cabin. The campfire isn't required."

"Well, it is now," he growled, dragging me toward the amphitheater. "Come along, Miss Williams." he said, a bit unnecessarily. I restrained myself from tackling him.

Since the Apollo campers were the ones leading the sing-along, we didn't exactly have a place in the stands. So I sat on the lowest seats, closest to the fire, and a little off to the side. I didn't know why Tantalus wanted me out here. Probably just so he could watch me suffer. I was definitely suffering, trying to keep my eyes open and failing.

In the middle of one of the songs someone suddenly came and joined me. I looked over to see Tyson of people. Ah…Cyclops, I suppose I should say. I looked back around at everyone else. No one seemed to notice, not even Tantalus, who I thought for sure would scold us both.

"Hey," Tyson whispered.

"Um, hey," I mumbled, turning back to look at the ground, my eyelids drooping.

"You do not sing with them?" he asked, pointing to the rest of the Apollo cabin onstage.

"Nah, not really…my thing." I took a deep breath to keep myself awake for another second or two.

"You have pretty singing voice," he complimented. "You should be there."

"I appreciate that," I mumbled, no doubt blushing. "But I don't really like the spotlight."

We lapsed into silence as the rest of the Apollo campers finished up the last few songs. I fell asleep. The intense heat of the campfire woke me up. I had to block out the light coming from it, it was so bright. Then I wondered what I'd missed. Something had excited the camp. And to such a degree, too….

" _We need a quest! We need a quest!_ " the campers were chanting. Tantalus looked confused before his features hardened.

"Fine!" he shrieked his eyes lighting up like the fire only with anger and not eagerness. "You _brats_ want me to assign a quest?!"

No one seemed scared of him now.

" _Yes!_ "

The campers quieted down and waited for him to speak.

"Very well," he finally agreed begrudgingly. "I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying." He smiled cruelly. "I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle! And choose two companions for the journey. And I think the choice of champion is obvious." He regarded someone in the crowd with a belittling look. I followed his gaze to Percy and Annabeth. "The champion should be the one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defense of the camp." he explained. " _You_ shall lead this quest…Clarisse!"

All different emotional reactions, the flames sputtered to match the mood, switching colors, rising and falling in height. The Ares cabin was stomping their feet and cheering for Clarisse.

Clarisse stood up hesitantly, looking like she wasn't expecting that and wasn't quite comprehending what Tantalus had just said. But she got over the shock quickly. Her chest swelled with pride and she held her head higher. "I accept the quest!"

"Wait!" Percy protested sounding almost desperate. "Grover is my friend. The dream came to _me_."

"Sit down!" one of the Ares campers shouted. "You had your chance last summer!"

"Yeah," another agreed. "He just wants to be in the spotlight again!"

Clarisse glowered at Percy. "I accept the quest." she reiterated. "I, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, will save the camp!"

The Ares cabin cheered again. Annabeth started arguing and so did her siblings. Then suddenly everyone was taking sides. Someone threw a marshmallow and more followed after that.

"Silence, you brats!" Tantalus yelled his tone nothing I'd ever heard before. All the fighting stopped and everyone stared at him in surprise. "Sit down!" he barked. "And I will tell you a ghost story." His voice became quiet, and loathsome. The campers who had stood up warily took their seats again. The aura that Tantalus was emanating sent chills down my spine. "Once upon a time there was a mortal king who was beloved of the gods!" He reached up to put a hand on his chest. It was all too clear he was talking about himself. "This king was even allowed to feast on Mount Olympus. But when he tried to take some ambrosia and nectar back to earth to figure out the recipe—just one little doggie bag, mind you—the gods punished him.

"They banned him from their halls forever! His own people mocked him! His children scolded him! And, oh yes, campers, he had horrible children. Children, just—like— _you_." He pointed his filthy, crooked finger at some campers in the audience, including me. "Do you know what he did to his ungrateful children?" he asked softly, his eyes sparking with a villainous gleam. "Do you know how he paid back the gods for their cruel punishment? He invited the Olympians to a feast at his palace, just to show there was no hard feelings.

"No one noticed his children were missing. And when he served the gods dinner, my dear campers, can you guess what was in the stew?" It was dead silent. The firelight glowed a dark blue, throwing shadows across Tantalus's face, making him seem scarier than I'd ever seen him before. "Oh, the gods punished him in the afterlife," he continued when no one spoke. "They did indeed. But he'd had his moment of satisfaction, hadn't he? His children never again spoke back to him or questioned his authority.

"And do you know what? Rumor has it the king's spirit now dwells at this very camp, waiting for a chance to take revenge on ungrateful, rebellious children." I had to stifle a snort at this. "And so…are there any more complaints, before we send Clarisse off on her quest?"

The amphitheater remained quiet except for the sound of the crackling fire.

Tantalus nodded satisfied. Then looked over at Clarisse. "The Oracle, my dear. Go on."

Clarisse looked uncomfortable; she was even biting her lip. Some story to unnerve even the children of Ares.

"Sir—" she started.

"Go!" he thundered.

She bowed awkwardly and swiftly scurried off toward the Big House.

Tantalus turned on Percy again. "What about you, Percy Jackson?" he spat. "No comments from our dishwasher?" Percy stayed quiet even though it looked like he wanted to speak, his jaw tightening. Tantalus smiled. "Good. And let me remind everyone—no one leaves this camp without my permission. Anyone who tries…well, if they survive the attempt, they will be expelled forever, but it won't come to that. The harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry! Good night, my dear campers. Sleep well." He waved his hand and the fire extinguished. The campers stood and headed back to their cabins in silence and darkness.


	16. Can Someone Stop the Noise?

Thanks to my little nap at the bonfire, I was wide awake. For now. I knew the weariness would creep up on me sooner or later. But for now, I was awake. And I was itching to leave. I just didn't know where to begin. How was I going to find Luke's boat without alerting him?

As much as I would've loved to surprise him, I didn't see any other options. I'd have to contact him if I was going to ever find the ship he was on. I was most certainly not going to wait for him to contact me. It'd already been a few days and I'd had enough of being run into the ground by Tantalus.

With my decision made, I slipped out of bed. I pulled some clothes on and packed another pair in a small backpack along with a baggie of ambrosia and asmall canteen of nectar. I opened my chest and grabbed my sword, strapping that to my waist, and my knife, putting it into a sheath that wrapped around my ankle. I would have to get a bow and quiver of arrows from the armory though. I wasn't going to take a spear.

I slung my backpack over my shoulder, carefully making my way to the door. Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about the floor being littered with extra bodies. But I was trying to be stealthy.

I reached up to grab the doorknob but paused and turned around to take one last look around the cabin. It was quiet and peaceful, full of soft breathing. I swept my gaze over the walls, adorned with orange quotes. I looked at the art and poetry on the wall painted with the chalkboard paint. I lingered on Dan's stuff, mostly quotes from musicals and plays.

I looked at Dan's bunk. My eyes stung with tears and my heart felt like lead. Making a rash decision, I went back to my bunk, setting my backpack down before searching for a piece of paper and a pencil in my chest. When I finally found one, I scribbled a small note for Dan, reminding him that I loved him and always would, no matter what happened next. I folded that up to make it look like an envelope before writing his name on the back and setting it on one of the little shelves that held the chalk closet to his bunk.

I retrieved my backpack and left without a backward glance.

The moon shone and the hearth burned, but the camp felt sickly. All because I'd been too late to stop Luke. How useful were dreams if I couldn't do anything about them?

I readjusted the straps on my bag as I headed out of the inverted U and tried not to dwell on that too much. I made my way to the armory, on the lookout for any harpies. I kept my hand ready to reach for my sword if needed. I did have my dagger, but that was only if it came to such needs. I liked the sword because it had a farther reach.

I made it to the armory without a hitch. Looking around a little unnecessarily, I slipped inside to grab a bow and quiver of arrows. I threw those across my back and started to head back out. As I was pushing the door back open, I spotted two harpies fluttering nearby. I couldn't tell if they'd picked up my scent or not. Though I figured not, because they weren't talking about eating me. I quickly retreated back into the armory, keeping the door open a fraction and hid behind it, looking through the sliver between the door and the frame.

I could go out there, sword blazing, but thought better of it. If they hadn't sensed me yet, then there was no need to start a fight. I could wait for them to flutter by, but there was a chance they would pick up my scent and I'd have to fight anyway. So my best bet was to shoot them with my newly acquired arrows now.

Moving slowly, breathing shallowly and keeping quiet, I unslung my bow and notched an arrow, aiming through the small crack I'd left. My arrow sliced through the night and tagged one of the harpies, who instantly turned to dust. The other squawked in surprise, looking around. I notched another arrow just as its eyes zeroed in on me. She opened her mouth as if to call out but I let my arrow fly and silenced her.

I carefully pushed open the door, looking around to see if there were any more harpies around. When I was sure the coast was clear, I dashed out, stopping to pick up the two arrows I'd used and then started to jog to the beach. I threw one arrow back into the quiver and kept one, notching it as I ran.

I stayed close to the edge of the woods, scanning the grounds to my right every few seconds for any more signs of harpies. I encountered none.

The beach seemed like a good place to contact Luke. I mean, I'd been there the last time I'd called to him and he was a on a ship, so being closer to the water seemed like a good idea.

I regretted my thought process as soon as I arrived at the beach, because several yards away two people were sitting on the sand, near the surf. They both had dark hair, but one's was a shade lighter than the other. One of them looked much younger, too, while the other looked older than any of kids at camp.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I muttered. Who in the world would be up right now? Couldn't I ever just catch a break? I didn't have time to dwell on these thoughts let alone turn around or head into the woods and farther down the beach because one of the figures turned to look at me—the one with the lighter shade of hair—like they'd heard me from this distance, which I didn't think was possible.

The other figure turned, too, to look at what the one the first was. Even from a distance I recognized who that second person was. There was just no avoiding that boy!

With a groan, I put my arrow away and slung my bow over my shoulder as I headed toward the two. There was no point in turning around now. They'd both seen me. As I got closer, however, I realized that the first person who spotted me was sitting next to a wooden staff with doves' wings at the top and two green snakes coiled around the middle, standing up in the sand.

I stopped, considered this for a moment, and then turned around without a word, heading back toward the woods. I guess I would be heading farther down the beach after all.

"Hey, wait!" Percy called. I stopped again, trying to decide if I was going to do this. As I was contemplating Percy came up to me. I turned around to face him.

"What?" I asked in an annoyed voice.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Well, I'm…" I trailed off trying to think of a good excuse as to why I was heading to the beach heavily armed.

"Going to look for Luke," Hermes answered, appearing out of nowhere next to Percy. We both jumped.

"That argument has absolutely no basis," I objected, my face growing hot. "I have to go now." I started to turn but Percy spoke.

"And you went to the beach to begin your journey?" he questioned. "Is there a boat that I'm not aware of here that you were planning on using or were you just going to swim? How do you even know where—?"

"I know he's out at sea," I interrupted defensively, turning to face him again. "I had a dream about it." I paused a moment, my tone turning slightly more sardonic, "And, no, I wasn't going to swim, I was coming down to the beach because I was hoping I'd find a god willing to help me get to him."

Percy blinked, looking confused for a brief moment before it cleared. "That last part was sarcasm, wasn't it?" he said flatly.

"Give the boy a prize," I mocked.

"Hey, now—" Percy began, but Hermes stopped him.

"Tori, I was actually just finishing up here. Will you so kindly wait for me back by the woods, please?" he said, then turned to Percy without waiting for an answer from me, gently ushering him back toward where they were sitting. Percy reluctantly turned to follow, giving me one last weary look over his shoulder.

"Now, where were we?" Hermes was asking. His voice faded out as they got farther away. I slowly turned and headed back to where I'd been when they first saw me in a daze. Did a god just ask me to… _wait for him_? Even worse, it was Luke's father. Of all the gods, it had to Hermes.

I leaned against a tree and waited, watching Percy and Hermes exchange a few words more. I heard yelling and tensed, but recognized Annabeth's and Tyson's voices. I wondered about that, but this clearly had to do with Percy and not me. I kept in place, looking back at Percy and Hermes. Something yellow appeared at Percy's feet right before Hermes pointed out across the Sound. I looked to see if I could see what he might be pointing at.

Sure enough, against the darkness of the night, there was what looked to be a cruise ship heading across Long Island Sound. Its lights glowed brightly.

My heart soared. Could that be it? The ship that Luke was on? He'd been on one in my dream and based on the room, it'd been pretty fancy. A cruise ship would make sense. This was great news. Now about how I was going to get there…

"So, you're looking for Luke," Hermes said.

I flinched and pulled away from the tree. I almost reached for an arrow but managed to stop myself. I swallowed hard. He'd appeared next to me and had taken a few steps away when I'd started. His caduceus had disappeared. He looked like any other jogger from New York.

"Yes," I said simply.

Hermes appraised me for a moment before abruptly turning and starting back the way I'd originally come, toward the armory. I followed, not really sure what else to do.

"Aphrodite has told me a lot about you and Luke," Hermes finally said.

"Oh, great," I muttered. I suddenly remembered that Chiron had told me I wasn't on the gods' good side. I glanced at the god of thieves out of the corners of my eyes, wondering what he, _personally_ , thought of me. What he thought about my relationship with Luke.

"What are you going to do when you find him?" he asked, looking over at me. I quickly averted my gaze.

"If you've been talking to Aphrodite then you should know," I said, keeping my eyes on the ground. I gripped the straps of my backpack. Hermes didn't respond. I sighed. "I want to save him. That cruise ship you pointed out to Percy, is Luke on it?" I asked, looking back up.

Hermes's gaze went skyward, a faint smile on his lips. "Eavesdropping?" He gave me a sideways glance and arched an eyebrow.

"What, no, I—" I stumbled over my words, my face slowly turning red. "I wasn't—I was too far away to hear. I saw you pointing—" I stopped seeing the mischievous grin spread across Hermes's face. "And you knew that." I turned to face front and let out a breath.

"Yes, it's the ship Luke is on," Hermes finally said.

"Did you tell Percy that?" I asked. It was my turn to lift my gaze to the sky. The stars winked and I imagined it as some sort of cosmic melody, the way my mom used to. Instead of teaching me constellations, she formed bars of music, the stars representing the notes. When the blinked, that was when the notes were being played. (The constellations came later, when I arrived at camp and started learning about Greek mythology.)

"No," Hermes answered a hint of amusement in his voice. Although, there was an air of seriousness about it, too.

"Lord Hermes, will you help me reach his ship?" I looked over at the god, who kept his gaze forward. He looked deep in thought. We'd been skirting by the edge of the woods and were passing the armory currently. I hadn't seen any harpies and still didn't.

We came to a slow stop near the stables. Hermes looked down, closing his eyes. He had his hands in his pockets. And still hadn't said anything.

I was chewing on the inside of my lip nervously. I was afraid he was going to say no, he'd done enough godly deeds for one night helping Percy and was done now. I mean, my backup plan was contacting Luke, which wouldn't be hard, but I was still hoping to surprise him. Maybe not for the most pure reasons—mostly out of spite. I couldn't get that image of him and Silena kissing out of my head. It was seriously starting to eat at me.

Finally, _finally_ , though, Hermes said, "I will." He opened his eyes and pulled one of his hands out of his pocket. He pulled out the last thing I thought he'd have in there: an apple. "I think you'll find this useful." He threw it up into the air, it fell in an arch toward me and I let out a small yelp trying to catch it.

"Uh, thanks," I mumbled dryly, examining the apple. Bright red, looked juicy. Just like any other apple you'd find at the grocery.

"The ship won't be off the coast for very long, so you'd better hurry." Hermes told me.

I gripped the apple. "Thank you," I managed with more sincerity. I didn't know if it was just me or if it'd gotten suddenly awkward.

"Good luck," he responded with a nod before he turned and started jogging back the way we came. After a few paces he shimmered and disappeared. I spun back around and looked at the apple he'd given me, turning it around in my hand, wondering how exactly this was supposed to help me. That's when I heard a whinny from inside the stables. I froze and looked from the stables to the apple.

Looking around, just in case the harpies decided to suddenly appear now that I didn't have a god by my side, I walked up to the stables. I opened the door and crept in. It was really dim, but I was afraid to open the door any wider. I saw all the sleeping pegasi. But there was one pegasus—that was pure white by the way—that was wide awake, shifting in its stall. It nickered when it saw me. I wanted something a little more inconspicuous, but if it was my only way, I'd have to take it.

I took out my blade and cut the apple in half (one for now, one for later) and opened the stall gate and coaxed the pegasus out with one half of the apple. Every time it whinnied I froze and told it to be quiet.

As soon as we were out of the stables I gave the pegasus the apple and hopped on. I didn't practice pegasus riding nearly as much as weapons training, so I was really nervous, more so about falling off and into the ocean than getting caught, but it was part of the half-blood curriculum here, so I did know how to ride one. The pegasus trotted down to where the beach began, then started galloping to gain momentum. I held my breath as we took off just at the water's edge.

The flight was smooth, flawless, and quiet. As we got closer I finally comprehended this was a _cruise_ ship. It was huge! The hull had to be at least ten stories high, topped off with probably another dozen or so levels of decks with its balconies and portholes ablaze with light. The ships name was painted in big, black letters and highlighted with a spotlight. It was hard to read because of my cursed dyslexia, but I finally decoded it: _PRINCESS ANDROMEDA_.

Attached to the bow was a three-story-tall woman wearing a white Greek chiton, sculpted, so that it looked like she was chained to the front of the ship. Andromeda was young and very beautiful with a full head of flowing black hair, her expression, however, was that of pure horror. I vaguely remembered her myth.

We landed on the very top deck of the ship. I hopped off, grateful to be on solid ground, and fed the other half of the apple to the pegasus.

"Go back to camp. Thank you," I whispered. The pegasus bobbed its head as if nodding and whinnied before turning and flying off. I watched it fly away until it was too far to see anymore.

"Well, well, well," a horribly familiar voice drawled.

I spun around and came face to face with the _empousa_ I'd seen in my dream. She was dressed casually, jeans and T-shirt, and had the Mist making her look like the beautiful coffee-skinned girl with dark, curly hair and brown eyes.

"You must be Kelli," I said with feigned enthusiasm.

The _empousa_ grinned, her form flickering for the briefest moment. Her canines pushed down on her bottom lip. "You've heard of me." She held out her hand like you would for a man to be able to take and kiss the top. I took it, but turned it so it was a proper handshake. We both had fake smiles on.

"Saw you in a dream, actually," I said, pulling my hand away.

"Oh?" She asked, even though I knew she knew exactly who I was and how I knew her. Her hair sparked.

"Don't flatter yourself," I replied in a sickly sweet voice. Her hair sparked more.

"Well, Luke's told me _so much_ about you." It could've just been me, but she sounded resentful. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"The pleasure is all yours," I responded lightly.

Kelli's form flickered again. Her smile stayed put, but I could tell it was _really_ forced. Her eyes glared at me.

"Well, it's the middle of the night. I don't think Luke would appreciate it much if he was to be woken up—the past few days have been very long and stressful for him. So why don't I just take you to your room…" She reached out toward me, as if to grab my arm or something, but I took a step back, looking at her reproachfully.

Kelli laughed coldly. "Oh, you don't trust me. As well you shouldn't. But that last part?" Her hand shot out so fast it was a blur of brown. I felt it close around my upper forearm like an iron vice. "Wasn't a request." She growled these last few words, pulling me forward.

We walked side-by-side. Well, more like, she walked so fast I stumbled along trying to keep up with her.

I shifted my arm in her grip.

"Do you mind—" I started but broke off and bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood when her nails turned to claws that pierced right through my skin. It was almost like little knives had shot out from her fingers. I gave her a sideways glance, she'd changed into her true _empousa_ form.

We went down a few flights of stairs, and through a promenade full of closed shops. Down corridors with closed cabin doors. It was probably after the fifth corridor did I realize two things. The first thing: I hadn't seen anyone. Not one single person. The ship was totally silent. The second thing: the hallways looked _exactly_ like the ones I'd seen in my dreams, when I was being chased by monsters. My throat closed and I nervously glanced over my shoulder to make sure something wasn't following us. I wasn't comforted when I didn't see anything.

Finally Kelli stopped at one of the doors to one of the many suites, threw it open, and shoved me in. I would've admired the nice room, but I was too busy being angry.

"You know, I really don't think you should be treating me like this," I spat turning around to face her.

"Oh?" she challenged. "Why is that? Because you and Luke are boyfriend and girlfriend?" she mocked. Her hand—well actually fist—lashed out and hit my cheek. I could already feel the bruise.

Not expecting this from her, I stumbled back, almost falling. As I tried to regain my balance, Kelli came up, ripped the backpack, quiver of arrows and bow from me as well as my sword from my waist, and threw them across the room.

She smiled. "Well, what he doesn't know"—she grabbed what she could of my hair and threw me into the vanity—"won't hurt him." I grabbed the edge to balance myself.

"I could just tell him you did this." I said looking at her through the mirror.

She turned into her human form, her eyes becoming wide.

"I can act clueless." she said in a soft, innocent-sounding voice.

I snorted. "You don't need much help with that." I hadn't exactly meant to say it, it just sort of came out.

Kelli growled, the Mist dissolving, and came up to me. She grabbed my neck, spun me around and slammed me up against the wall.

"Big mistake!" she hissed, her hand tightening on my throat, cutting off my airways. As I coughed and gasped, I reached up and dug my nails into her skin. Her hand only tightened. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask, did you like my little _present_?"

My blood boiled with anger and hatred. My brother had almost died because of her stupid little _gift_! Because I couldn't say anything, I started clawing at her hand and arm with my nails with more force until she let go. Air whooshed into my lungs, almost painfully. The rush made me slightly dizzy for a moment.

Her fist came up and hit me again but this time it was right below the temple—about where my eye was—on the left side of my face.

I fell over, seeing, first stars, then black spots, she'd hit me with so much force. Before I could gather my bearings her foot connected with my stomach, I let out a cry of pain. Then she grabbed my upper forearm, pulled me to my feet, and twisted me around into the vanity again, except with so much velocity the mirror shattered, cutting my arms and face. I was hunched over the vanity, barely able to catch myself before falling face first into a pile of glass shards.

I looked over just in time to her fist flying down toward my head. I straightened up and her hand splintered the wood, breaking the glass into smaller pieces. Without hesitating, she lifted that fist and flung it at me but I deftly dodged, parrying her other fist. I kicked her in the chest and stooped down to grab my dagger from my ankle.

I'd just pulled it from my sheath and looked up to see Kelli lunge toward me. I rolled underneath her, jumping to my feet and spinning around, slashing my dagger at her. She easily dodged by stepping back.

She was fast, but thanks to my training with Annabeth, I was able to push her back. I treated her clawed hands as if she had her own knives. It was easier for me to parry, doge and counterattack that way. And even though she had two hands, my dagger had a longer reach.

I forced her into the defense, not allowing her time to launch an attack and just kept pushing her further into the room. I was hoping to corner her. Afterward, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do, but right now I was mainly focused on not getting sliced to ribbons. Been there, done that. Twice. I wasn't fond about doing it again.

I slashed again and suddenly Kelli went wayward with a surprised snarl. She'd tripped over my belongings she'd thrown in here earlier.

I took advantage of this, straddling her and pinning her arms down like the _empousa_ she'd sent me did, with one foot on one of her wrists and my other leg tucked underneath me, pinning down the other wrist. I leaned forward, pressing the blade of my knife to her throat.

Kelli growled and tried to pull free. I pushed the blade harder against her neck.

"Careful, Kelli, struggle too much and you might end up with a fatal wound." To make my point I pressed even harder. She hissed but stopped struggling. Her red eyes glowered up at me.

"Get—off—of—me," she spat through gritted teeth.

"Oh, don't like this?" I asked in mock sympathy. "I'm just repaying a favor."

Kelli's eyebrows furrowed slightly, her eyes narrowed, but her confusion cleared almost as fast as it appeared. "So you _did_ you like my present?" she sneered. "I hope she treated you well."

I gripped the hilt of my dagger, pressing the blade deeper into her neck, anger surging through me. I was angrier that her little minion had hurt my brother. If anyone had a problem with me, I preferred they addressed me personally—keeping it strictly between me and them. Going after friends, family and loved ones wasn't fair. They hadn't done anything to incur that person's wrath.

"Oh, we had a wonderful time," I told her. "In fact, she's in Tartarus right now. I'm sure she's having a ball." Kelli started struggling again, but I pressed my blade even deeper and she stopped again.

"So, what will you do now?" Kelli asked, looking frustrated that I'd put her into this position. "Go ahead, kill me. I'll just come back. Faster than you think, too. I don't think you understand just how _important_ I am." She smirked.

I looked at her carefully. She seemed pretty confident in her statement. Still…she could be bluffing to save her hide.

"Well, why don't we find out then," I said with my own smirk, pulling the knife away from her throat and raising it above me, preparing to stab her in the chest. She didn't say a word. I thrust my hand down, and _right_ before I pierced her skin, she roared, " _No!_ " I was just barely able to stop the blade from making contact.

I laughed. "You almost had me there for a second, good try." She hissed. "I'm going to let you up now, but if you try and attack me, I _will_ send you back to Tartarus. You can tell your little friend, hi." Carefully, I stood, backing away from her, going over to lean against the vanity. I kept my dagger where I could easily stab her if she came at me.

"As much as I _hate_ you," she said as she got up. "Killing you would put me on Luke's bad side." She sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"That's cute," I said. "I didn't know monsters _had_ feelings."

Kelli glared at me again. "Oh, _please_ —"

"I can't blame you, though," I interrupted. "He's quite handsome."

Kelli snorted and stalked out of the room, without another word, yelling, "Guards!" as she exited. Two more monsters appeared at either side of the door. _Dracaena_ , snake woman. Their top halves were dressed in armor and they held spears. I sighed. A security detail? Really?

I wanted to ask Kelli about that, but she was long gone by now. Gritting my teeth, I stomped up to the door and slammed it closed. With a deep breath, I turned and leaned against the door. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off I could feel my cuts and bruises.

I limped over to my backpack and pulled out the half-crushed baggie of ambrosia. I broke off a small square, put it in my mouth and let it melt on my tongue. It tasted like my mom's homemade chocolate volcano cake a la mode. The throbbing from my bruises melted away and the cuts closed up. The puncture wounds from Kelli's nails didn't heal completely. I risked another square, much smaller than the first.

This time it tasted like my mom's homemade salted caramel. My head buzzed and I felt like I'd just developed a fever. I knew that was all I could take for now, but thankfully the puncture wounds closed up.

Exhausted, I stumbled toward the bed and fell asleep instantly.


	17. Lost Here in this Moment

The ship's whistle woke me up the next morning. There was an Australian man talking through the speakers, too, but I paid what he was saying no mind. Instead, I rolled over on the comfortable bed and looked out the window/porthole. The sky was a beautiful blue with white, puffy clouds dotted around. I looked at my watch. It was mid-morning, but outside it looked like noon already. The expanse of blue water and sky stretched on as far as the eye could see.

I looked up at the ceiling, blinking sleep from my eyes. All right, I was here and I'd gotten a good night's rest. Now it was time to find Luke.

I threw the blankets off me and hopped out of bed, grabbing my backpack on the way to the bathroom. I cleaned up, taking a nice hot shower and changing into clean clothes. The bathroom had come with complimentary travel-sized shampoo and conditioner bottles, and soap bar. So at least, I could clean up properly. I didn't think to bring any toiletries so I couldn't brush my teeth, but dental hygiene was the least of my worries.

I would've loved breakfast before charging those two guards at my door, but no such luck. I didn't think to bring nonperishables, either. I just didn't think I'd need them…for some reason. Coming last night had been a last minute decision, more or less.

No matter, I wasn't going to let two measly guards stop me from exiting my room. I didn't even know why they were standing in front of my door, anyway. I was pretty sure they were there to keep me in, not keep others out. The question was why Kelli thought it necessary to keep me in. I almost wished she was back here to explain to me, but thought better of that.

I slung the backpack over my shoulders before my quiver of arrows. I sheathed my sword and my dagger in another sheath on my right side—easier to get to if needed. The ankle sheath was handy if I wanted to keep it hidden but still on my person. That is if they didn't search me, but it didn't matter here.

I grabbed my bow and went up to the door. I opened it just enough so I could see out and examined what I was dealing with.

Two _dracaenae_ , ready for battle, wielding spears. I could take them, but I really didn't want a big fight, a lot of noise, or any time for them to call for help. I closed the door as gently and quietly as I could before shouldering my bow so I had both hands. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door, letting it slowly swing open.

The _dracaenae_ regarded me for a moment through the corners of their eyes before turning them forward again. I tried to just leave to see what they'd do. They crossed their spears.

"Ssssorry," one hissed.

"You're not going anywhere," the other finished.

I stepped back and they uncrossed their spears. I glanced at the open spots in their armor one more time before simultaneously unsheathing my sword and dagger. While my left hand stabbed one _dracaena_ in the neck, my right hand swung my sword at the other _dracaena_ , effectively beheading her. Their armor and spears clattered the floor as they both turned to sulfurous dust. I was glad for the carpeting.

I sheathed my weapons and pulled out my bow, notching an arrow. I looked up and down the hallway. The coast was still clear. I stepped out and went right, stepping over the pile of armor. I didn't know where exactly I was going, but if I could find a map of the ship and where the suite that Luke was, I assumed, staying in, I'd be golden. As it was, I didn't know either of those things.

About halfway down the hall someone turned the corner. I raised my bow and arrow as the other froze. She hissed, her red eyes flashing.

"Good morning, Kelli," I greeted, not lowing my bow.

She eyed the dusted _dracaenae_ behind me before her eyes went back to me, narrowing.

"Where's the suite with that coffin?" I asked. "The one you talked Luke into poisoning Thalia's tree in?" She took a step toward me a low growl building in her chest but I let my arrow fly. It hit the spot right between her feet. By the time she looked up, I had already notched another arrow. "I don't miss on accident. Now, again, where's the suite, Kelli?"

She sneered. "Would you like me to take you there?"

I smiled. "Oh, no, just tell me the number or name or whatever, and I'll find it on my own, thank you." She didn't make any notion she was going to tell me anytime soon. "Fine. I can always ask someone else. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy it down in Tartarus."

"Wait!" Kelli shrieked, just as I let my arrow go. Thankfully, I managed to misdirect the aim and it flew past her ear. She flinched, but was glaring balefully at me. I notched another arrow. "The admiralty suite. That's the name." she muttered through gritted teeth.

"Thank you," I said, starting toward her. There was no way I was turning my back on an _empousa_. Especially one that hated my guts. Suddenly, her eyes looked at something over my shoulder.

"Stop her!" she yelled, pointing to me. I didn't dare look at who she was talking to, but I was also afraid there was _something_ behind me. To confirm my fears, pounding footsteps sounded from behind, coming in my direction. My dreams of being chased by monsters through these very hallways hit me full force and my heart started beating double time.

I bolted forward, keeping my arrow trained on Kelli, skirting around her and turned down another hallway just as a spear flew past me and embedded into the wall. I'd managed a glimpse at the ones she was yelling at. They looked like ordinary people, but had to be half-bloods. My heart sunk. Luke had been busy.

Nonetheless, I kept running, hoping to find my way out of this maze, possibly to a map.

I encountered people now that it was light out, but they were passengers with glazed eyes who didn't pay attention to me as I sprinted past. I didn't hear pursuing footsteps, but I had no doubt Kelli was sending more half-bloods or, worse, monsters after me.

I also encountered other monsters, but they didn't seem to know that they were supposed to capture me, so I let them be. As much as I would've loved to dust them, I didn't think that would help my situation.

As I ran through hallways and past people, monsters and more demigods, I wondered if there was an alarm on this ship. And if there was, why Kelli hadn't sounded it. Maybe I wasn't important enough. Or maybe, more likely, she didn't want Luke to find out that she'd messed up. Or that I was even here.

Finally, I came across a YOU ARE HERE sign. I glanced around, making sure that I didn't have any attackers before looking for where the admiralty suite was in relation to where I was. I'd just found it when an arrow whistled past my ear and _thunk_ ed right into the sign.

I looked behind me to see two more demigods. I didn't want to hurt my own kind, but I didn't want to be the one getting hurt either. Making a quick decision, I notched an arrow and shot at the other archer's shoulder. I shot the other one in the foot. While they were preoccupied I ran down the hall to get me closer to the suite I wanted.

I turned down a few more halls and made sure I was going in the right direction with another sign. I was just about to exit one hallway when a man and woman appeared, armed with nightsticks. Their eyes were glazed over and they looked like crew members of the ship, but they stood in fighting stances. I quickly turned, to go the other way but two more guards appeared.

Hurting mortals was a totally different thing to me. They couldn't take a square of ambrosia or sip some nectar and heal quickly from any wounds.

It was a good thing I'd learned hand-t0-hand.

I quickly shouldered by bow before turning toward the two closest to me. The man came forward first, trying to knock me over the head. I ducked and threw a right hook. He stumbled back and the woman came forward. Behind me—and I only knew this because of my ADHD—the other two were running to meet us. I had to act quickly or I'd be surrounded and put down, no doubt.

As she threw her nightstick down at me, I intercepted the nightstick and grabbed her wrist, kicking her in the chest. As she flew backward, I ripped the stick from her hand and spun around just in time to intercept another nightstick aimed at my head. My sword fighting skills kicked in, because it was close enough.

After my block, I pulled back wacking the guy over the head. He crumpled. The other guy came forward but I pressed my back against the wall so I could watch both sides. The two who had been closest had recovered by now. All three pressed closer.

I held my nightstick up, trying to determine how to handle this, looking back and forth frantically.

With a quick last glance at the two on my left, I lunged toward the guy on my right, grabbing his wrist and pulling him in front of me just as the two swung their nightsticks. They both hit the man. One got in a lucky shot and knocked him out for me, but suddenly I weight nearly 200 pounds more. My knees buckled and I almost took a tumble before managing to get the guy off me.

Two down, two to go.

I was about to engage when two hellhounds appeared behind the two guards. My heart jumped into my throat and my pulse pounded. I checked behind me and with nothing blocking that way as far as I could tell, I turned and sprinted down the corridor, shoving the nightstick next to my dagger, in case I encountered more guards.

As I came to the crossroads a spear almost brained me but I managed to duck and continue down the next corridor unscathed.

I didn't know why Kelli wanted me contained so badly, but she was going to have to do a better job than this. Though, I admit, I was getting one heck of a workout.

I almost passed another sign, but I didn't know where I was or where to go, so I came to a screeching halt, grabbing the sign itself to help me stop. I was panting as I searched for a new route.

Something growled to my right and I looked to see another hellhound. I backed up, quickly grabbing my bow and notching an arrow. Not giving it any time to lunge or even growl again, I shot it right between the eyes. It melted into shadow and I quickly ran up to grab my arrow. I looked up just in time to see the same two guards I'd encountered earlier, followed by two _dracaenae_. I don't know where the other hellhound had gone off to.

I ran in the other direction shoving the arrow back into my quiver. I shouldered my bow again and unsheathed my sword. I didn't want to waste arrows any more than I needed to.

I made it a pretty good ways, only a few hallways more from the admiralty suite when I hit a wall of bad luck. Literally. I somehow managed to get myself into a dead end hallway.

With a groan, I spun around only to come face-to-face with the two guards and _dracaenae_. They came forward pressing me further back.

Kelli suddenly appeared behind them, smirking. The Mist was disguising her again.

"Just give it up," she said sweetly, her words rolling over me. "You're outnumbered here. Sheath your sword and I'll take you to Luke."

Scary thing was, I almost did. Until I realized that she was trying to charmspeak me. I blinked and shook off my haze, glaring at her.

"Why do I get the feeling you're lying to me?" I asked, though it wasn't really a question. The fact that I had had guards stationed at my door, this silly goose chase was even taking place, and that she'd tried to charmspeak me into giving up just a moment ago told me another story.

Kelli looked irritated that her charmspeak hadn't worked.

"You're making this harder for yourself, demigod," she snarled, her hands balling into fists. The four advanced further until I hit the wall. I had to think of a plan fast. I would've used one of the guards as a shield again, but I got the feeling the _dracaenae_ wouldn't mind harming them.

I'd have to watch out for Kelli, because she was only scared of me if I had the upper hand. She _really_ didn't want to go back to Tartarus, and I could use that to my advantage, but I needed to neutralize the others first.

That left me with only one option. Attack the _dracaenae_ first. I might get hit with a nightstick, but hopefully not hard enough to knock me out or break anything. And hopefully I wouldn't be hit a lot, either. They wouldn't expect me to go after the second line of defense, so I had surprise working for me at the very least.

I gripped my sword, mapping out what I was going to do. I glared one last time at Kelli before charging with a battle cry. I pushed my way between the two guards, stabbing my sword in the eye of one _dracaena_ before pulling back and swinging my sword at the other, lopping her head clean off before she had time to react.

I tried to sheath my sword and pull the nightstick, but one of the guards hit my back so hard my knees buckled and I fell forward. Thankfully, I didn't accidentally fall on my sword. I fought through the haze of pain and rolled over, letting go of my sword. My gaze was fuzzy but I saw a blur of black and lifted my hands instinctively.

A shockwave of pain ran down my arms and the stick almost hit my face anyway, but I managed to stop it and wrap my numb fingers around it. My vision cleared just in time for me to push the nightstick toward the man and jab him in the stomach. With a grunt he hunched over and I ripped the nightstick from him, swinging it at the other guard's leg as she came forward.

With a cry of pain, she listed to her right. I hopped to my feet and hit her over the head before turning toward the other guy, who was starting to stand up. I threw the nightstick into my left hand and brought it down onto the back of his neck, where it meets the head. He collapsed.

I couldn't make sure they were both down for good, though, because Kelli was still there. I started to turn toward her, but she was a blur of white as she came at me simultaneously, slamming me into the wall so hard I saw stars for a good 30 seconds. When my vision cleared, she was right in my face, red eyes gleaming, fangs bared. She had pressed her arm up against my throat, holding me to the wall.

"Not so hot now, are you, _half-blood_ ," she growled.

I chuckled and she pulled back slightly, confused. I looked down between us and she followed my gaze to see my dagger poised to run her through. I'd pulled it while she'd been talking. Kelli had made the mistake of not pinning my arms down.

I put pressure on the blade and she backed off. I rubbing my throat but smiled smugly at her. I lifted my dagger to her face. I took a moment to catch my breath and with a two-fingered salute, I dashed off, sheathing my dagger, scooping up my sword and the nightstick I'd dropped when Kelli had attacked me.

"I'll just sent more monsters after you!" she yelled behind me.

I looked over my shoulder at her as I sheathed my sword, then my nightstick, and called back, "Go ahead!"

I found another YOU ARE HERE sign and quickly looked over it. I was close now. _Very_ close.

I encountered two more hellhounds, but easily dusted them with my sword. I passed another crossroads and a _dracaena_ tried to throw a spear at me, but I easily ducked and continued on. I heard her scaly legs scrape against the carpet as she followed me, but I was so close I simply ran on.

Finally, I turned down one last hall and stopped, despite the perusing _dracaena_ , my lungs on fire and my muscles screaming, but triumphant. I'd found the admiralty suite!

There was a set of closed oak doors at the end of the hall. I wasn't sure that Luke was even in there, but I didn't care. I was going in one way or another. If he was there, great. If not, then I'd wait. I'd just run here, dodging monsters, demigods and cruise ship workers with nightsticks on an empty stomach. I think I could manage some waiting.

Sheathing my sword, I walked up to the doors, grabbing both handles and throwing them open. Kind of dramatic, I admit, but I was feeling great.

As it turns out, Luke was inside. He'd been lounging on one of the two sofas in the middle of the room, feet up on the coffee table. He stood when the doors opened, his eyes wide.

I smiled at him. "Luke," I greeted with feigned cheerfulness. Behind me I heard the _dracaena_ 's snake legs chaffing the carpet. Without breaking eye contact I grabbed my bow, nocked an arrow and angled my body so I could aim and shoot properly, still without looking away from Luke. I let my arrow fly and heard the satisfying sound of her armor hitting the floor before turning back to fully face Luke. "We need to talk." I finished, shouldering my bow again.

Luke looked stunned. His jaw had gone slack and his eyes kept flickering back and forth between me and the monster I'd just dusted without even looking.

Suddenly, two javelins were in my face and that's when I noticed the others. How I hadn't before was beyond me, because they were, like, right in front of me.

Percy, Annabeth and Tyson stood a few feet away from me. Three chairs were in front of them. The ones holding the javelins on either side of the three were two half-bear, half-human monsters. Their top half was the bear part, and the bottom half the human part, clothed in jeans.

I looked back at Luke.

"Well?" I asked. "Anything to say to your girlfriend?"

"You cut your hair," Luke stated, still in shock.

I pushed the javelins away from me in annoyance and stepped inside the suite. The half-bear things seemed a little stunned at what I'd just done to stick their weapons in my face again.

"Oh, wonderful," I said, rolling my eyes. "We haven't seen each other in months and _that's_ how you greet me?" I snorted and looked at Annabeth. "Can you believe that?" She looked back at me too bewildered to glare or be angry or answer, for that matter.

Luke blinked and took in the scene before him, his shock fading. He regained composure, closing his mouth and straightening up.

"Uh, Tori—" he started.

"Oh," I exclaimed. "Am I…interrupting something?"

Luke narrowed his eyes, eyeing my bow, sword, dagger and newly acquired nightstick. "Is that a trick question?" he asked, meeting my eyes. He looked nervous again.

I smiled without humor. "You know me so well." Luke opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off. "Just tell your little pet _empousa_ to chill. I'll be waiting back at my suite. We have some things we need to discuss." I gave him a pointed look before starting to turn, to exit, but Annabeth stopped me.

"So, what?" she started barely able to contain her fury. "You're just going to leave us here?" I turned back around to face the three. Annabeth, obviously, had finally gotten over her shock. She was glaring daggers at me with those sharp grey eyes. Percy still seemed to be trying make sense of the situation. I didn't look at Tyson, because I felt bad enough already.

"There's not much I _can_ do," I told her, my eyes flickering at the bear monsters. I didn't think I'd be able to take them. Too big. Too many people to keep track of. "Besides, this isn't my quest."

"What is that even supposed to mean?" questioned Annabeth, irritated on top of angry.

Percy spoke, "She thinks we're going to make it off the ship." _Way_ more observant than I gave him credit for. "I don't know if you hadn't noticed, but we're"—he gestured to Luke—"not on very good terms right now. He tried to kill me last summer? Remember?" His green eyes flashed as if daring me to forget.

I looked down, playing with the hilt of my sword. "It's complicated," I reminded him. I looked back up and continued on, not letting him speak. "Besides, I…have a feeling you'll make it off alive." My eyes flickered to Luke. He seemed to be studying me, his eyebrows furrowed slightly in concentration.

"Oh, a _feeling_ , that's _wonderful_ ," Annabeth griped, rolling her eyes.

I shrugged, pretending not to notice her sarcasm. "God of prophecy's daughter." I gave Luke another pointed look before I turned away again. No one tried to stop me. "Good luck." I said, not looking back.

"To me or Luke?" Percy asked.

"Both of you," I called before turning the corner. Looks like I'd be waiting after all.

I went in search of food. When I found it, I cut ahead of everyone and took care of any monster or demigod that had a problem with that by brandishing my sword and glaring at them. I didn't dust or hurt anyone else, but it did get them to back off. I was ravenous.

Once I had my fill, I made my way back to my suite and waited for Luke. I kept the door open and sat on the edge of the bed, watching it. I took my backpack off and set my bow, quiver of arrows and nightstick aside, but kept my sword and dagger. Couldn't be too careful on a ship full of monsters.

I didn't know how much time had passed, but suddenly alarms started blaring. I hopped off the bed and poked my head out the door, looking around the hallways. Red lights were flashing. A group of monsters and demigods rushed past one end of the hallway. I figured Percy, Annabeth and Tyson were making their escape.

I went back into my room and continued to wait. It was only a few minutes after the sirens and red lights stopped did Luke show up in my doorway.

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you knew I was going to let them escape and instead focus on the fact that I'm happy to see you," he said with a crooked smile.

I smiled back, but then remembered Silena and my smile faded. Luke came toward me, seeing this.

"What's wrong?" he asked, trying to put a hand on my shoulder. I stood up and deftly moved out of his way, going to my right and turning to face him. He looked at me cautious and confused.

"Tori?" he asked slowly, coming toward me. I moved again, going to the door and closing it.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, not turning to face him. "I just…" I wet my lips and turned around, veering back because Luke had come closer. Like, inches-away-from-me closer. His blue eyes swirled with worry. His eyebrows were furrowed, his mouth set in a small frown.

"Please, tell me what's wrong," Luke whispered.

"Silena," I managed to whisper back, my eyes filling up with tears. Realization dawned on his face. We stood there, inches apart, shallow breathing, for what felt like an eternity. Luke was deep in thought as he gazed at me. I couldn't break my eyes away from his. They were so blue, so beautifully blue.

Luke blinked, focusing in on me. He looked… sad. My heart dropped and my stomach did flip-flops.

"H-have you been using me, Luke?" I asked in a shaky, quiet voice.

"We've been over this," he reminded me in a soft voice, no hint of anger. It was comforting. "I _promise_ you, I haven't. I'm not. Why do you keep doubting me?" I could hear the hurt beneath the surface and felt my own hurt swell in my chest.

I averted my gaze and gripped one wrist with my other hand, remembering the vines, the gods' words. Luke didn't miss this.

"Did something happen when they talked to you?" he asked carefully, slowly putting the puzzle pieces together.

"Th-th-they wore me down," I stuttered, my voice still weak and shaky. "A-and planted the seed."

Luke was silent for a long time. I looked at his hands, which had turned into fists. I glanced up at him. His blue eyes blazed with anger and hatred, but not toward me, toward the gods, no doubt. When he saw me looking, his eyes softened, his hands unfurled. He lifted his hands to caress my face or put them on my shoulders, to comfort me, but I thought about him kissing Silena again and shifted away from him.

"Please, don't," I said quickly, looking away.

"Tori," he said gently, but his voice was pained. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, my own heart aching. I felt his fingertips brush my cheek, but I turned my head away further, half-heartedly pushing his hand aside, and reopened my eyes.

"Don't," I told him quietly.

"Tori," he said, his voice still soft, his hand coming toward my face again. I took a step back, hitting the door, turning my head away even more. There was a moment's pause before Luke tried yet again—very slowly, with both hands. I didn't try to move away this time. I wasn't quite sure why.

Luke's hands were warm, rough and calloused from his sword fighting, but gentle, as always, as they held my face. He turned my head so he could look at me but I refused to meet his eyes.

" _Victoria_ ," he said in a quiet, but firm voice. I finally, reluctantly, looked up at him. His wintery blue eyes were swirling with so many emotions I couldn't pull out any singular one to be able to get a read on what he was feeling. "I'm sorry." he told me, all the emotion in his eyes spilling out into those two words. He let them sink in before he began speaking again, his voice just above a whisper, "I made a mistake. And I'm sorry. I will do whatever you want me to do to make it up to you. I love you." His eyes tightened and his voice dropped to a ragged whisper, "I hope that you'll believe me when I say that."

Then he started leaning forward. For a scary moment, I thought he was going to kiss me and I started to pull back, letting out a noise of protest. Luke paused a moment, too close to me for me to see his eyes. My hands had come up to pull his hands away from my face. We stood there like that for a long moment before Luke continued forward, quickly, but instead of kissing me he kissed my forehead. Then he let go of me and took a step back.

His eyes gazed at me searchingly. Worried.

I thought about what he'd said. He didn't try to make excuses or explain what happened or anything. He'd simply apologized and reassured me. I couldn't help but feel I could trust that. He'd even said he'd make it up to me, heal what was broken.

"I accept your apology," I said slowly. "But…" My voice wavered.

Luke's expression looked a hundred times more worried. "But…?"

It was now or never. I sighed heavily, looking away. "Don't do this," I whispered, closing my eyes to keep the tears at bay.

"Do _what_?"

I reluctantly looked back up at him, wanting to see how he'd react. " _This_ ," I whispered, gesturing around the suite. "This…this ship, the monsters and demigods." I paused and swallowed hard. "Kronos." The room chilled and I tried not to shiver. Luke finally understood and his walls came up, his blue eyes hardening, like a flash-freeze. His hands fisted as his side.

"I can't do that," he said carefully, in a low voice. "I _am_ sorry, and I _do_ love you, but I…I can't do that. I'm not going to stop what I'm doing here. The gods don't _deserve_ the thrones they sit on any longer. How could you even ask me that?"

"Because he's using, Luke," I said, my voice shaking slightly. I didn't want him mad at me, but better that than losing him for good. "Kronos is _using_ you, and he's going to dispose of you as soon as he gets what he wants."

Luke took a step back, clenching his jaw.

"Don't say that." He looked away, looking anguished.

I took a tentative step toward him, reaching out. "Luke," I said uncertainly.

"If you're not with me…" He looked back at me, conflicting emotions in his eyes. He couldn't seem to finish the sentence, but I understood what he meant. I dropped my hand and looked down, tears flooding my eyes. I couldn't stop some from falling, but I quickly wiped them away before looking back up at Luke.

"What are you going to do?" I questioned, choking back a sob.

This confused him and some of his anger cleared. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, the only way I see it, you have to kill me now," I told him. "If I'm not with you, then I'm your enemy." I finished for him. "I can't go back to camp because Tantalus said he'd expel anyone who defied him. I don't have anywhere else _to_ go. You can't just…house enemies on your ship without your leadership being questioned. So, you have to kill me."

Luke looked stricken at the very thought, which was reassuring. That meant he still loved me. At the very least cared about me. It meant he wasn't _so_ angry that he _wanted_ me dead. At the same time…

"No," he said, swallowing hard, his face hardening. "I'm not going to kill you." His voice lowered to a whisper. "I could _never_ —" He looked away, hands fisted so tight his knuckles were white. Taking a deep breath, he looked back at me. "I have to go. I have to…think about this. We'll talk about this later."

I couldn't get myself to say anything as he brushed past me and out the door. I turned as soon as the door closed and tried it. Somehow, it'd been locked. I tried opening it again, still no luck. I stepped back in shock, looking at the doorknob.

He'd just locked me in.

If he wasn't going to kill me, and he considered me his enemy, then…

I slammed my hand against the door, trying the knob again with my other hand.

"Luke!" I yelled, even though he was probably out of earshot. I kept trying the door, slamming my fist against it, calling his name, but all in vain.

When I finally came to my senses, I stopped, my fist resting on the door, my hand still grasping the knob. Tears pooled in my eyes and I gritted my teeth, gripping the door handle harder. I didn't want to cry, but the tears overflowed anyway.

A prisoner.

I'd become a prisoner.


	18. We Are the Foxes

After I calmed down enough to think straight again, I decided wallowing in self-pity would do me no good. It didn't do me good at camp, so it wasn't going to do me any good here. Instead of doing that, I gave it my all to break down the door.

I tried kicking where the door knob was, but no such luck. I wasn't strong enough. I'd probably have to kick it a million times more before it'd break open. Then I tried my sword. I only managed to nick the wood, maybe get half an inch of my blade into the door, and that was running from across the room, like I was jousting the thing. Lastly, I tried my dagger, poking around at the doorknob, not really sure _what_ I was doing.

The thing about this being a cruise ship was the fact that this door locked _only_ on the inside. How Luke had managed to lock it from the outside _and_ make the door handle useless to me was a mystery. Well…I had an idea. He'd told me once that he had the ability to unlock anything with a lock by simply touching it and concentrating. It was like he could sense the mechanisms and make them move how he wanted them to, to unlock. Something he'd inherited, being the son of Hermes. I guess that power worked in reverse.

I probably spent a good hour working at the door. But it didn't budge. This ship was expensive, made with the best wood money could buy. That meant it was strong.

With a shout of frustration and one last kick near the handle I went to sit on the edge of the bed, glaring at the door angrily, with my arms crossed over my chest.

I just couldn't believe this was happening. I mean, it wasn't like I was expecting a happy reunion between Luke and me, but I hadn't been expecting _this_ , either. In all fairness, I didn't know what I was expecting from him. Bringing up a subject like turning his back on Kronos could go so many ways, I didn't even think Apollo could precisely predict what would happen. (That's an exaggeration. I had a feeling the gods knew a lot more than they were willing to tell. And Apollo being the god of prophecy, well that made him, like, the supreme seer of all things. But was I going to admit that? No, I hated him.)

Once my anger died to a small simmer, I grabbed my bow and quiver of arrows. I went over to the vanity, pulled the chair out, sat down, and put my feet up on the surface, the glass crunching under the soles of my feet. Then, I started shooting arrows at the door.

I'd shot sixteen and had just notched another arrow when I saw the door start to open. Without really thinking, I aimed my arrow at the doorframe, at average height, on the side that the door was opening. The person froze before they stuck their head inside, first looking at me before looking to their left and seeing all the arrows currently sticking out of the door.

"Luke," I greeted crisply. Luke slipped inside, ducking under the arrow I'd shot at him and closing the door again.

"You're usually a better aim," he commented, glancing at the door again. I notched another arrow and shot at the same arrow in the doorframe. It split the first arrow perfectly in two. Luke flinched. I set my bow and arrows aside, standing up and going over to him. I took his hand, ignoring the little spark I felt when I touched him, and pulled him over to where I'd been sitting.

"See it?" I asked, pointing at the door.

"See what?" he asked.

I moved him so he was standing where I'd been. It took him a moment but realization finally dawned on him.

"Andromeda, the constellation," he said. "Fitting."

"I thought so, too," I replied, going over to the door, pulling the arrow in the doorframe out first. "It would've been a waste of good arrows, had I been aiming for one point." I explained as I started to pull out the rest. Luke came over to help me. I could feel the tension between us, pulled taught like a piano string. I just wasn't sure how I was going to broach the subject. I think Luke didn't either and that's why he wasn't saying anything.

He tentatively handed back the bundle he was holding, careful not to touch me or make any kind of skin-to-skin contact.

"Thank you," I said in a clipped tone, going over to my quiver and putting them in.

"Tori—" he started, but I cut him off.

"You said anything," I reminded quietly, lifting my head and letting my arms drop, but keeping hold of the quiver of arrows. My back was to him, but I didn't make a move to turn around.

"I know what I said," Luke replied quietly. "I shouldn't have told you I would do anything. I misled you, and that was wrong of me."

"Apologizing again?" I asked in a whisper. For some reason I found it amusing. Apologizing for his apology.

"That seems like the only thing I _can_ do," he whispered back, haltingly, like he was afraid of saying the wrong thing. Again.

My lower lip quivered as tears formed in my eyes and I silently cursed my emotions while swallowing sobs. "Do you love me?" I asked in a thick voice, turning around to face him. "You kissed Silena to get her to do what you wanted. How am I supposed to know you haven't done the same thing with me? Is there something between you and me? Has our whole relationship just been built on lies?"

"No, Tori…" He approached, reaching out to put his hands on my shoulders, but I stepped back, shifting to avoid his hands. He froze, taking a deep breath and stepping back as well. His hands fell to his side, but I could see the tension in his body. There was torment in his eyes, agony on his face.

I hated hurting him like this, but he'd hurt me, too. I wasn't saying that I was exacting some kind of sick revenge, by hurting him, but…all was fair in love in war. Wasn't that the saying? Ironically enough, it was turning out to be both.

"I _do_ love you—" Luke tried in a gravelly voice.

"Then why won't you stop what you're doing? You said 'anything', Luke. You said you'd do anything to prove that you loved me. Well, that's what I want. I want you to turn away from Kronos. I want you to believe me when I say that he's _using_ you."

"I can't do that!" Luke snapped, his hands fisting. His faced was pained, conflicted. "I can't…do that." he repeated quieter, breathing hard.

I let out a growl and turned away from, feeling frustrated again. It was like working at breaking that darned door down. I wasn't getting anywhere and all I was doing was wounding it with nicks and small cuts. I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes trying to think. Even if he didn't love me…even if he didn't, I'd fallen in love with him. Maybe it wasn't fair to me to keep trying to stop him from doing this, maybe he didn't deserve it, if he _was_ just…using me. But I still loved him and I didn't want to see him destroy himself doing this.

Some small part of me just couldn't believe that he'd used me, despite all the doubt crowding my mind. That small part fought against the doubt, not believing that our whole friendship had been a lie. He'd told me some of his deepest, most sacred secrets. He'd revealed himself to me, his darkest moments. And I, in turn, had done the same. That's how this worked, right? That's how relationships worked?

Having gone through so much together, I had to believe that Luke, at the very least, had to care about me. Maybe he didn't love me romantically, that I could bear, but there was still a bond between us. There had to be _something_ there, and if I could find it, then maybe I could grab hold of it and use it save him.

Slowly, I turned to face Luke again. "Then tell me," I croaked, for I'd been holding back sobs. I lifted my gaze to meet Luke's. "Keep your other promise, tell me everything."

Luke seemed to relax ever so slightly, but his jaw clenched and unclenched, like he was nervous.

"Okay," he said, nodding, then hesitated. "I…I have a lunch set out for you, if you'd like. I thought you might be hungry. I can explain while you eat."

I gazed at him for a long moment. Food did sound good. All this stress and anger and working at the door had worn me out, I needed to replenish my energy reserves. My rumbling stomach sealed the deal. It was so loud, Luke heard it. I blushed and glowered at nothing in particular. Luke cracked a small, tentative smile of amusement.

"Lead the way," I muttered in a monotone. Without hesitation, Luke turned and headed out. I followed quickly, going to stand next to him. At one point, our hands brushed. A zing of electricity raced up my arm and my heart stuttered. I pulled my hand to my chest, holding it with my other one, creating more room between me and Luke by practically pressing myself against the wall. I looked over at him accusingly.

Luke's own hand had gone up to rub the back of his head.

"Sorry, sorry," he mumbled quickly as he nervously met my glare. He lowered his hand, sticking it in his pocket. I kept my distance and crossed my arms over my chest tightly, shifting my gaze forward.

We arrived on the sixth deck from the very top of the ship, which had a balcony of sorts there. It overlooked the bow, and from every direction, miles and miles of deep crystal blue sea and a light blue sky stretched.

Sitting near the railing was a small table for two. It had a white table cloth. In the middle of the table sat a small, clear vase of flowers, so you could see the stems. Only on one side was there a plate of food—a gourmet grilled cheese, with ham and slices of tomato, with a small bowl of tomato soup on the side, garnished with a sprinkle of cheese—and utensils. There was also only one tall, cold glass of water. I figured that meant Luke had already eaten.

It was just as well, though, because he was going to be doing all the talking anyway.

As we approached, Luke went to pull out the chair for me. I mumbled my thanks and sat down. He quickly sat down across from me. I took the napkin from underneath the utensils and spread it across my lap neatly before looking over at Luke.

"Okay, explain," I said. I picked up my sandwich gingerly as he began.

Something clicked as Luke told me how this had all started. How, after he'd come back from his quest, he had been so angry at the gods. How he began to dream of Kronos, who promised him that he'd get his wish of tearing Olympus down stone by stone.

I recalled hearing this last summer, when Luke had lured Percy out into the woods. The memory had been fuzzy, as if submerged in water because I'd been in such a state of confusion and shock at the time. With Luke explaining it in greater detail, the memory came to the surface, sharp and crystal clear.

Anyway, the further he got into his story, the more I realized how Kronos was using him. And why Luke was unwilling to turn back now. They were in an exchange of hatred for the gods, a dangerous, toxic—dare I say it?—relationship.

Luke's hatred had begun with Thalia, and Zeus turning her into a tree, but after his quest it had magnified so much, it stirred Kronos. And the titan had simply made things worse. Not just by feeding off Luke's anger, but feeding it, as well. Whispering things to Luke, to make him even more angry and resentful.

Kelli wasn't exactly helping, either, with her charmspeak. She'd convinced Luke to poison Thalia's tree. With Thalia's spirit residing within, by default, she'd convinced Luke to poison his friend. Together, that _empousa_ and Kronos were twisting Luke's thoughts, getting him to do things he might not do if he wasn't being influenced by two monsters.

I decided it was my job to combat this. From the sound of it, hate only bred hate. I loved Luke, so that's how I would fight Kronos, and Kelli. I know, sounds completely and totally cliché, to the point of being painful—the power of love and all that. But, at the same time, it might just be cliché enough to work. And it wasn't like the power of love (any love, no one ever said it had to be romantic) notion had come from nowhere. It'd just become so overused and romanticized that people made fun of it. If you got down to it, it was true.

Love was always more powerful.

I swallowed my last bite of sandwich, the soup mostly gone because I'd been dipping, with a little difficulty and gazed at Luke. He seemed agitated, recounting all his anger, but he looked back at me with worry, searchingly. I carefully wiped the grease from my fingers, keeping my gaze on what I was doing.

"I'm sorry," I finally said, looking back up as I placed my napkin on my plate. Luke blinked, confusion dominating his face for a moment. It was almost immediately replaced by dread.

"What for?" he asked in strained voice.

"For not being there for you," I explained. The dread disappeared and the confusion returned. "I should've tried harder when you got back from your quest. I shouldn't have left you to your own devices. I should've pushed you harder to open up to me. I should've _been there for you_ and I wasn't. And I'm sorry for that."

I sat forward as I continued, "But I'm here for you now. Luke, I'm here for you, _now_. You don't have to shoulder all of that anger alone. I love you, so I will share your pain. But you have to let me, first. Doing this, working with Kronos, isn't going to heal you, Luke. Let me take your burden and we can work through this together. Without titans and monsters and other angry demigods."

I reached across the table to take his hand, gripping it tightly.

"I'm not going to abandon you," I promised.

Luke inhaled sharply and stopped breathing. My grip unconsciously tightened on his hand, because I was afraid he'd pull away, and waited, holding my breath too. What I'd said, it was a big statement. I knew from all our time together, he had serious issues about being abandoned. He'd felt that's what his father had done and so bringing something like that up might've opened old wounds. At the same time, I was promising to do the opposite, hoping he'd see how serious I was about this.

Finally, Luke unfroze and let out his breath, slowly. I let out my own breath and kept my hold on his hand. He hadn't broken eye contact the whole time. Emotions flitted across his face and in his eyes at the speed of light, but settled on confusion. Only, it was a pained confusion, like he was questioning everything: What he'd done. Where he'd ended up. What the future held if he continued on the path with Kronos. Hope formed in my chest. Just a small little crystal, but it looked like I'd made an impact. I was getting to him.

Luke wet his lips, sitting forward, taking my hand more firmly. He swallowed hard before saying, "Tori, I…"

"Luke!" an all too familiar voice called, making my flinch. Luke and I both looked over to see Kelli coming toward us with two of the ship's guards, a _dracaena_ dressed in armor and wielding a sword. The _empousa_ had the Mist disguising her again and a wicked smile on her face. She was dressed in a flowing, pristine white summer dress, with brown, stitched accents.

"Go away, Kelli," I growled, glaring at her. She glared back as she approached us, but she had a smirk. My stomach dropped. She was up to something. Kelli turned to Luke.

"We have some very important things we need to discuss," she said, her voice sweeter, carrying a lot more weight. She was charmspeaking him again.

I gripped his hand. "Luke, don't," I said, trying to keep him focused on me.

"It's urgent," Kelli continued, laying on her charm thickly. Luke's gaze strayed from me to Kelli, dazed.

" _Luke_ ," I tried. His head snapped back to me and I held his icy blue eyes. "Please, don't listen to her. She's just going to brainwash you again." I was gripping his hand so tight now, I thought for sure he'd be in some kind of pain, but he didn't indicate it.

"Luke," Kelli purred, getting closer and running a finger under his chin while turning his face toward her. And even though her voice was still heavy with charmspeak, Luke pulled away. The crystal of hope grew. Too soon, because just then the air around us dropped ten degrees. A violent shiver went through me just as a shadow seemed to pass over Luke. His eyes darkened.

"No," I said, standing up and going over to Luke, shoving Kelli aside with my elbow. I tried to take his face into my hands, but Kronos had gotten to him. And so quickly too… He caught my wrists and stood up, forcing me to take a few steps back.

"Luke," I tried desperately, tears stinging my eyes. "Luke, don't listen to him, please." My voice was just above a whisper and shaking.

But it was too late. Luke was gone. I may have been able to combat Kelli's charmspeak, but she, together with Kronos, was no contest.

Luke looked over my shoulder at the guards Kelli had come with. "We'll take her back to her room," he instructed letting go of my wrists. "Guard her. Make sure she doesn't try to escape on our way there." The guards came forward and grabbed my upper forearms, dragging me back, to make room so Luke could slip by me. Kelli followed him. The guards turned me as Luke and Kelli started down the hall. I would've struggled more, tried to fight off these guys, but the _dracaena_ took up the rear, keeping the tip of her sword poking me right between the shoulders.

"No, Luke, please," I begged, wishing he'd turn around and _look_ at me, as I struggled against them. "Please, don't listen to him. Don't…" My voice broke and I didn't think I could continue on without breaking down into tears.

"Are you sure you don't want to just kill her?" Kelli suggested, looking over at Luke, her voice thick with charmspeak again. She started dragging her finger up and down Luke's arm, her eyes flickering back to glance at me. "I mean, she's _such_ nuisance—" She broke off on the account of Luke slapping her hand away and glaring at her.

"No, I am _not_ killing her," he told the _empousa_ in a cold voice before facing front again. The small crystal of hope reemerged. Maybe I couldn't combat their words when it came to what he was doing here, what Kronos wanted him to do to further his goal of world domination. But it seemed, the Luke I'd fallen in love with was still there, buried beneath all that anger and hatred.

Twice now, he'd had the chance to kill me, knowing full well that I wasn't going to be joining the likes of Kronos any time soon, yet, he hadn't. I had to believe it was because he did care about me, he did truly love me. There was hope after all, but it was a cautious, fragile hope. Not a crystal, I realized, but a flame, a small flame that could be easily blown out by the smallest blast of cold wind.

Luke opened the door and stepped aside as the guards threw me into the room. I stumbled, struggling to regain my balance. As soon as I did, I turned and launched myself at the door as Kelli was closing it, smiling triumphantly at me.

I ignored her. "Luke!" I yelled, but it was too late. The door slammed shut. I quickly tried the door knob, thinking Luke surely couldn't work _that_ fast. I was wrong. It was already locked. I pounded my fist against the door and called his name, but it did no use. The door stayed locked. I pressed my ear against the door, no sound or sign that they were out there anymore.

When dinnertime came around, food was brought to me on a rolling cart, like you'd see in five star hotels when ordering room service, by a disgruntled-looking demigod. When I peeked out the door, it was guarded by three other demigods, dressed in armor. I figured they were only there to make sure I didn't try to escape and would leave after the door closed, because of Luke's power to lock and unlock things.

I didn't see Luke.

I was tired, but when it came time to lay down and actually sleep, I found I couldn't. My mind was buzzing with the situation I'd gotten myself stuck in. A prisoner. A prisoner on a ship full of monsters and angry demigods who were following Kronos and wanting to start a war with the gods. I didn't even know my part, my place in all of this anymore. I wasn't on Kronos's side, but I'd left camp, I'd _spied_ on camp for Luke. What did that make me?

I didn't know what time is was, but I finally fell asleep. Of course, as soon as I did fall asleep, I dreamed.

I was back in the admiralty suite. Like the first time I dreamed of this place, it was dark out. But this time, the lights were off. Not that they needed to be. The room was basked in a faint glow of golden light. It was dim at the front of the room, where the double doors were. The light grew brighter the closer you got to the back of the room. In other words, the closer you got to the golden coffin on the dais, the brighter it got. The room was also freezing.

Kneeling in front of the coffin was Kelli in _empousa_ form. Luke was nowhere to be seen. As I crept closer—crept because I knew she could sense me, even though this was a dream—I noticed her head was bowed and her eyes were closed. The air also grew colder. If I'd actually been in the room, my breath probably would've condensed.

It looked like Kelli was concentrating on…something. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

Suddenly she spoke, making me jump, "Yes, my lord. I am sorry—" She broke off, wincing.

My lord? I looked at the glowing coffin. Was she seriously communicating with Kronos right now? Was that even possible? I had no idea what the coffin was for, no one had told me and I spent my time locked up in that blasted room, so it wasn't like I could listen to what the word was on the ship.

But I had a pretty good idea, what with it glowing and Kelli kneeling in front of it like there was a king sitting on his throne rather than a coffin on a dais.

"No, my lord," Kelli said in a restrained voice, her eyes blinking open. I didn't think an _empousa_ could look scared with flaming hair and ruby red eyes, but Kelli was pulling it off. "I _can_ do this. As you said, I am the best. More powerful among my sisters. I am simply flirting because it helps with the charmspeak. However…" She trailed off, hesitant.

There was a pause and she lifted her head to look at the coffin. "The girl seems to be a problem," Kelli said carefully. "I _hate_ to say it, but a big one." She sounded grudging. Girl? What girl…? "Luke has fallen in love—" She broke off again and a jolt ran through me. Could she be talking about me? I mean, I couldn't think of any other girls that Luke could've fallen in love with other than Annabeth, but she wasn't here. In fact, she was with Percy, who Luke hated. Maybe he still cared about her, like he did me, but their relationship had to be, well…complicated right now.

I suppose I was one to talk. My relationship was just as complicated, if not more so, because of the fact that we were romantically involved.

"No, my lord—" Kelli tried, but broke off again. She waited. "If I may, my lord, I don't think that doing so would be a good idea—" She broke off again and tensed, her eyes closing. The coffin glowed brighter. Kelli swallowed hard. "No, not at all, my lord, but if the girl dies and Luke knows you are the one behind it, I don't think that he will do what you want anymore." She paused before continuing, speaking like she was trying to swallow gravel, "He loves her too much."

I tried not to let my flame of hope grow, but it was almost good to hear that from what someone else saw (especially a monster from Tartarus) Luke did really love me. He wasn't perfect, being a demigod trying to raise the titan lord didn't make it any less complicated or difficult, but no one was perfect.

But also, a bit more concerning, was the fact that Kelli and Kronos were working out a plot to kill me and make it look like an accident. I guess I'd have to be more careful now. I was glad they hadn't liberated my weapons (yet), even though they'd had the chance to when I'd gone to lunch with Luke. That meant, I actually had protection in case something _did_ happen.

"It may be ridiculous and only for the weak, my lord," Kelli started breaking me from my thoughts. "But Luke is turning out to _be_ weak, because it's having a huge effect on him." She waited while Kronos replied. A cruel smile appeared on her face, her red eyes flashing with excitement. It made my stomach churn and my heart migrate into my throat.

"As you wish, my lord." Kelli stood, staring out the windows behind the dais for a moment before she turned, looking straight at me. I froze as, like last time, she lunged at me, fangs bared, hands outstretched, nails now claws. I bolted upright in bed, gasping, rubbing my throat to get rid of the feeling of her hands around my neck.

The room was dark but I had an eerie feeling that something was watching me. I didn't know if it was because I was half awake or because of the dream I had, but I leaped off the bed, getting tangled up in the sheets, and tripped my way over to the light switch. I flicked it on and sunk to the ground, back pressed against the wall, eyes darting around the room frantically. There was no sign of an intruder, but that feeling of being watched didn't completely go away. I wanted to get up and go turn on the bathroom's light too, but I was petrified with fear.

I didn't know where it came from or how long I was going to feel like this, but I couldn't get myself to move. Even an inch. I sat there for however long, my eyes sweeping over the room countless times as my heart rate decelerated.

I was still trembling when I finally managed to move again. Only, it was to simply reach out for a pillow I'd knocked off the bed in my rush to the light switch and to pull off the covers I'd gotten tangled up in. I sat next to the door, beneath the light switch, hugging the pillow tightly to my chest, bundled up in blankets, and reluctantly closed my eyes. I'd open them once in a while to check the room, but finally exhaustion won over and my eyes closed and didn't open until the morning.


	19. Don't Need Another Perfect Lie

After that dream, I moved my bed into the far corner of the room (as far away from the door as possible) so that there was only one way to attack from. I kept my weapons next to me on the bed for easy access. I put my dagger in its ankle sheath, just in case something happened and I was either weaponless or taken forcibly from the room. I slept light, something I'd learned while living in the Hermes cabin.

Luke gave me new pairs of clothes. I was allowed to wash my laundry, but was escorted by two demigods, two monsters and two guards from the ship. I thought it was ridiculous. Why was keeping me prisoner on this ship so crucial to what Luke was doing.

If I was being completely honest, though, I was actually grateful that he hadn't sent me back to camp or killed me. It told me he still loved me, in some way, and he didn't want me going anywhere. I was making some kind of difference here. I just had to find a way talk to Luke more. As always, he was making it rather difficult. In other words, he'd been avoiding me.

I just couldn't understand why he was doing it, why he was _so_ against seeing me, let alone talking to me. Whenever my door was opened, I never saw him. I called for him, knowing he was probably right around the corner, but got no response.

A few nights after my initial dream of Kelli talking to Kronos, I had another dream about Kelli talking to Luke. Like usual, it took place in the admiralty suite. This time it was the middle of the day. The sky and sea were a bright blue, but I could actually distinguish where one ended and the other began. The sun shone brightly through the windows of the suite—no need for lights. Luke's sword was currently sheathed and strapped around his waist.

They were both standing, glaring at each other.

"That's ridiculous," Luke scoffed, stepping away from Kelli, rolling his eyes. "You don't give me orders." he continued, turning his piercing gaze back to the _empousa_ was disguised with Mist. Even so, she looked deadly pissed. "I'm the one who runs this ship, remember. I could send you back to Tartarus so fast if I so please, you wouldn't have time to _empousa_." To prove his point, he rested his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Despite Kelli being the powerful _empousa_ I knew she could be, she glanced nervously at the sword and swallowed hard. She managed to stand her ground, however.

"Luke," Kelli said carefully, lacing charmspeak into her words. "I'm not giving you order. On the contrary, I'm simply telling you, you shouldn't discuss our plans with your…girlfriend." Kelli stepped forward, flirtatiously. Luke blinked and I could tell the charmspeak was working. I wanted to tackled Kelli and send her back to Tartarus myself—I should've that first night—but, alas, this was a dream.

"Just…stay away from her for a little bit, okay?" Kelli said. "If you _must_ —"

Luke pulled away suddenly, his eyes clearing and becoming cold again.

"Stop doing that," he snapped. "I'm not going to stay away from her _just_ because you say so." His hand tightened on the hilt of his sword again.

Kelli let out a sharp sigh, cocking a hip and crossing her arm over her chest. The Mist flickered momentarily, revealing her true form.

"Okay, look," she said in a peeved voice, no charmspeak detectable. "I didn't want to have to do this, because I really like you, but if you don't agree to stop seeing that girl, I'm going to have to kill her." She said this like a mother saying she was going to have to take away a misbehaving child's toy.

The knuckles on Luke's hand turned white. "Do you honestly think I would _ever_ let you—?"

"There are ways," Kelli interrupted. "I'm not the only monster capable of killing her. They may follow you, but direct orders from Kronos will not be ignored. You best remember that."

Luke's jaw tightened but it looked like he couldn't think of how to respond. A series of emotions flitted across his face, settling on an outraged mixed with concerned and worried look. And Kelli could see that.

She smirked, but tried to hide it, not very well, though. "That's what I thought." And for the first time since dreaming about her, she didn't attack me, she left the suite, leaving Luke alone with the coffin. It pulsed with its evil energy, chilling the room. The dream faded to black like the end of some kind romance movie. I was plunged into darkness and woke with a start the next day.

I assumed, because Luke had been avoiding me ever since the day he took me to breakfast and told me how this all started, that this conversation had taken place a few days ago, too. Possibly the day after the night Kelli spoke with Kronos.

That dream would also explain why I hadn't been killed yet. Because my life was now being held as leverage against Luke. It was the only thing stopping him from seeing me, talking to me. Which made me a little more than pissed off at all of this. At what was happening. At the complexity of being a demigod.

After days of monotonous prisoner life, albeit pretty luxurious prisoner life, I decided I couldn't just sit around her and do nothing while Kronos and Kelli continued to brainwash and convince Luke to help the titan lord rise. Coming here had, obviously, been a mistake on my part. I thought I'd be able to do something, but it was becoming painfully apparent that I couldn't.

I wasn't feeling so great about myself, admitting this, either. I didn't want to leave Luke, but I couldn't just sit around while Kronos tried to take over the world. I couldn't just sit around while Kronos _used_ Luke. And I couldn't shake the feeling that Luke didn't realize just how much Kronos was planning for him. I wasn't quite sure what exactly the titan was planning, but I was having horrible dreams again.

They were vague, like the last ones I'd had months before the events actually took place, but they involved Luke having strange golden eyes. A shadow seemed to have fallen across his face. His expression cold and harsh. That was mostly it. I'd be running to him, his back to me and when I got to him, he'd turn around and I'd see those golden eyes and harsh expression. I couldn't fathom what that meant.

For some reason, it was really unsettling. I always woke up in a cold sweat and hear the echo of what sounded like laughter. I started sleeping with the lights on.

As I was saying, though, I decided I'd try another attempt at escaping. Actual break-down-the-door escaping, though. This is what I'd thought of when I was awake and had nothing to do but pace in my suite. I was no daughter of Athena, but I knew how locks and doors worked.

This door didn't have a deadbolt, so all I had to worry about was the latch on the doorknob. I started to work on that door as soon as I got up that morning. I wasn't thinking about the fact that I got three periodic visits for food, but it turns out I didn't need to worry about that because they never showed up. I'd find out why later, but at the time I was focused on getting out of here. (Before you say it, I tried the pins in the hinges, I didn't have the right tools to get them out. And they were _really_ in there.)

I suppose, if they had visited me like they usually did, I could've tried escaping then. The thing was, I was surrounded by six different types of fighters plus Luke. There was no way I was going to get passed that in such cramped quarters.

So with my gear ready (just in case), which was my backpack with a clean pair of clothes, the ambrosia and nectar, my bow and quiver of arrows, my nightstick, and my sword at my side, I started picking at the wood of the doorframe near where the latch of the knob was. I was using my dagger to do this.

Now, as I said before, this was some finely made wood, but I was picking at it like a pickaxe, splintering it and pulling out as many pieces of wood as I could to weaken the strength of the frame around the latch. It took me nearly all day. I didn't pay attention to time or hunger, I developed tunnel vision on my goal of getting out of here.

If I had had more time, I probably could've made my way all the way to the latch and just pulled the door free, but I didn't. I wasn't patient enough. I'd managed to push down my ADHD and focus on that task for most of the day. At this point, I wanted out and _now_.

So when I figured I'd made a good enough dent in the wood, I sheathed my dagger at my ankle and went to grab the sheets from the bed. I tied them together before tying one end to the door knob. I moved my bed back to where it had been before and then pulled the remaining rope of sheets across the foot of the bed to gain leverage. Then I pulled.

It took a few tries and I was losing faith in my plan and dreading having to go back to picking at the door again, but at about the sixth time, with one more mighty pull, the door slammed open. The wood cracked and splintered and was thrown into the wall, but I'd done it. I was thrown back, but I'd managed to break the door down, so it didn't really matter.

I quickly stood, unshouldered my bow and notched an arrow, in case Luke or Kelli had stationed guards outside my door on the off chance I found a way to escape. I watched for a count of thirty before creeping up to the door and peeking out. No guards. I looked up and down the hallways. Also empty.

With one last glance around the room and a quick inventory of the things I had with me, I entered the hallway and started making my way to the nearest YOU ARE HERE sign. I was thinking, if we were out at sea, I'd take a lifeboat. If we were docked, I'd find a way to exit safely that didn't involve any death-defying jumps from the side. I didn't come this far just to die.

As I made my way through the halls, I got edgier and edgier, because I didn't encounter anyone. No glazed-eyed passengers, no guards, no monsters, no demigods. It was strange and unnerving. Something was up, but I wasn't sure what. It was good and bad in that I was more alert. At the same time, being more alert didn't exactly help me when Kelli managed to sneak up on me.

I'd been so focused on making it out of here, glancing down a hallway to make sure it was clear that I didn't realize she was standing right next to me until she spoke.

"Hi," she said basically in my ear. I whirled around and pulled away, automatically shooting an arrow at her, but we were much too close and she'd learned from the last few times encountering me—she caught the arrow before it could hit her in the face. With a smirk she threw it aside as two guards from the ship appeared at my side, grabbing my arms roughly.

I gritted my death and glared at Kelli, who was in full _empousa_ mode.

"Let's go, we're missing the party," she said, smugness oozing from her very being. She spun around the two guards started dragging me forward, following her. They hadn't confiscated my weapons, which I thought was odd, but didn't question. As we walked, I started trying to think of a plan. I wasn't sure how much time I would have, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I'd kept from dusting Kelli before, but now, I wasn't going to hesitate to send her back to the pit.

I still had my bow in my right left hand, but I didn't know that it'd do much damage. Even to the guards, maybe just stun them. I wasn't going to use my sword, so the nightstick it was. Maybe I'd be able to stun Kelli long enough to unsheathe my sword.

We turned down another hallway and, without warning, I slammed the guard on my left into the wall as hard as I could—pulling from the guard on my right's grasp—while simultaneously pulling my nightstick and hitting the other guard over the head. Both guards crumpled. The one on my left, however, wasn't knocked out. I couldn't worry about them too much, though, because there was still Kelli.

She'd turned around as soon as I'd made noise and was currently approaching me. I tried to hit her with my nightstick, not having time to draw my sword, but she blocked with her arm. My wrist hit her arm hard enough that the nightstick was knocked from my hand. Before I could do much of anything, let alone pull another weapon, she grabbed my outstretched wrist and spun me around, twisting my arm behind my back and slamming me into the wall.

I couldn't stop the cry of pain that escaped my lips. I tried to pull away from her, but she pulled my arm up and pain rocketed through my body. I gritted my teeth and tried not to scream more.

"Too bad," Kelli sang in my ear. I automatically tried to pull away, but her grip tightened on my wrist. More pain hit me and black spots danced across my vision. "Now," she said sweetly as she pulled me away from the wall but put her other hand's claws-for-nails around my throat, pressing the tips in just enough to cause discomfort. " _Behave_ and I won't dislocate your arm." As if to prove her point, she pulled my arm up a tiny bit more. I couldn't stop the whimper that bubbled up to the surface.

With that, Kelli began leading me down the halls again. The one guard that was still awake followed us.

We walked onto a deck, through some double doors, with a pool and fountains that sprayed mist into the air. Gathered were a collection of monsters and demigods in battle armor. They were standing in front of the pool. Luke was standing a little in front of the group, facing four others, whose backs were to me and Kelli as we entered. The guard that had been behind us closed the doors, but stayed on the other side.

Luke looked stunned to see me and Kelli. The four that were facing him and his little group turned slightly to see what Luke was looking at, too, and I realized it was Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson.

I didn't know what was going on, but I looked back at Luke and met his gaze as Kelli walked us forward.

"Luke," she called a bit unnecessarily. "I brought you a little present." She stopped me near the four, then threw me down, finally letting go of my arm. I managed to catch myself with my hands before I could do a face plant into hardwood floors. I tried to stand up but Kelli kicked me in the back. "Ah, ah, ah, stay down." she chided.

I gritted my teeth and fisted my hands, trying to restrain myself. Instead I sat back and looked up at Luke. I couldn't read the expression on his face or in his eyes.

His gaze went to Kelli, behind me.

"What are you doing?" he asked flatly, gripping his sword, which he had out.

I could feel Kelli's red eyes bear down on me. "Go ahead, little demigod, tell him."

Luke's eyebrows furrowed and he looked back at me, expectantly. I met his gaze evenly but said nothing.

"Tell him, or I will," Kelli spat through gritted teeth. I still didn't say anything. "Fine!" she shouted, making some of the demigods in the audience behind Luke jump. "I'll have to tell him, then." There was a hint of amusement in her voice. "This one right here is trying to _save_ Luke!" She announced before laughing. This was echoed, more quietly, by the group of monsters and demigods.

I kept my eyes on Luke, whose face hardened, blue eyes flashing with anger and frustration when Kelli had said that. He raised his sword, signaling for silence and the crowd obeyed.

"I _don't_ need saving," he spat.

This made me angry. And all the pent up anger that'd been building up suddenly hit me. My anger at Luke, my anger at Kelli, my anger at the stupid monsters and demigods who thought it was ridiculous that I would attempt to save the one I loved. All of it. It washed over me like a tidal wave.

I started to stand and when Kelli tried to stop me by leaning down toward me to grab my shoulders, I elbowed her in the base of the throat. I turned slightly, simultaneously sliding one foot back into hers to trip her while one of my hands grabbed her neck and slammed her down onto the deck floor. I then straightened up and put my foot on her neck. She started to reach up with her hands, ready to rake her claws across my leg but I unsheathed my sword and slammed the tip down into the floor right next to her face so hard I'd managed to embed it about half an inch deep. She froze.

"I am not opposed to sending you back to Tartarus," I growled in a low, dangerous voice. Kelli glared up at me but retracted her hands and instead crossed her arms, pouting. A strange look on an _empousa_ 's face, but I didn't care.

I kept my hand on the top of the hilt of my sword and looked back at Luke.

"Kronos is _using_ you, Luke," I stated for the umpteenth time. But I would say it as many times at it took to convince Luke of this. I swept my gaze over all the demigods in the audience. "All of you." Then I looked back at Luke. "He's going to dispose of you as soon as he get what he's wants.

Luke's own anger heightened. His jaw tightened and so did the grip on his sword.

"You don't know what you're talking about," he snarled back. I thought I saw a flash of pain in his eyes, but it was gone so quickly I couldn't be sure if I'd simply imagined it. "I thought you understood." he said quietly. "You of all people—I thought you'd understand what I'm doing." His eyes hardened into crystals. "I can see I thought wrong."

Instead of feeling the pain I thought I was going to, I felt more anger. He thought I didn't understand?

I unstuck my sword from the deck, going forward, toward Luke. I made no motion of actually fighting him, and neither did he, as I came forward, but his followers behind him shifted uneasily.

"I don't understand?" I asked in a dangerous whisper. "Need I remind you that I had to _watch_ , _helplessly_ , as my mother was ripped open by a hellhound? I had to hear her scream and cry out for Apollo's help." I swallowed hard. Tears stung my eyes and my throat felt like it was closing up, but I continued. "Guess what I learned at last winter's field trip to Olympus. He'd heard her. He'd heard her cries for help and did nothing. Maybe I need to remind you that the hellhound attacked me after it made sure my mom was no longer a threat." My voice was thick. I gripped my sword, trying to keep myself from crying.

"Or maybe," I continued, "I should remind you how _humiliated_ I felt when Apollo claimed my brother and not me." I took another step toward Luke. "So, don't you _dare_ tell me I don't understand."

Luke's glare had lessoned throughout my speech. But he still looked a little angry, if not confused.

"Then why are you trying to 'save' me?" he asked in a whisper. "If you hate the gods as much as I do, why are you helping _them_ and not me?"

"I'm not doing it for them," I told him.

He blinked, his sword dipping slightly. His eyebrows furrowed. "I don't understand."

"I'm doing it for _you_ ," I clarified feverishly, hopefully. I was getting to him. I continued on quickly, breathlessly. "I am and always will be on your side. I'm doing this for you, because I love you, Luke. I couldn't care _less_ about what the gods want. If it saves _you_ , then I'd do it in a heartbeat."

Luke gazed at me for a long time and I held it, waiting. I saw every emotion flicker through his eyes. Anger, confusion, doubt, longing (the best way I can describe it), back to anger, more confusion, less doubt. His sword arm dropped more. I felt the flame of hope flicker and grow. I took a step toward him, wetting my lips and swallowing hard, but the temperature around us plummeted, like it had when Luke had taken me to lunch.

I froze as I saw a shadow pass over Luke's face. His eyes darkened and became angry again, a black rage I'd never seen in him before save once: when Percy came back from his quest to return the lightning bolt.

"No," I whispered. I took another step toward him. "Luke—" I stopped and veered back slightly for he'd raised his sword so fast I was almost impaled right between my eyes. I tried to look past the tip and at Luke, which I found surprisingly hard to do.

"Luke—" I tried again but he pressed me, forcing me back again.

"Stop talking," he interrupted in a calm, quiet voice. I gripped my own sword and gritted my teeth. "Sheath your weapon." he ordered in the same voice.

I was being stubborn. I kept my eyes trained on him and said, "Don't listen to him—"

Luke moved his sword's point to the base of my throat, the tip resting right between my collar bones, and pressed me back again.

"Sheath—your—weapon," he repeated slowly. Restraining myself from doing anything more and/or stupid, I slowly sheathed my sword and showed him my empty hands. He pulled his sword back just a bit, watching me for a moment. Then he turned and pointed to two demigods in the group behind him with his sword. "You and you, take her back to her room with Kelli, guard the door."

"Yes, sir," they chorused before rushing forward and grabbing my upper forearms, pulling me back, toward the double doors Kelli and I had first come through.

"Luke, please," I pleaded, struggling against the guards. "Don't listen to him!"

Kelli stepped forward. "Sir, are you sure you want to leave her with her weapons?" She smirked at me and I stopped my pleading momentarily to glare at her.

Luke eyed my weapons, I continued to pull against the two holding me.

"Fine, put them in the admiralty suite," he finally said. Kelli looked into the crowd and nodded. Like this had been practiced before a hellhound and _dracaena_ came forward. I swallowed hard and tried not to lean away from the hellhound, but my struggles became smaller. The _dracaena_ slither-walked forward (I tried not to cringe) and ripped the sword from my waist. One of the demigods had to momentarily let go of one arm (at a time) to get my bow and quiver and backpack.

I tried to look past the _dracaena_ and at Luke, trying to pull away from my guards. "Don't listen to Kronos, Luke! He's using you!"

"One more little detail," Kelli said, ignoring me. "I'm sure the drakon would enjoy a nice meal. I don't think he's been fed in ages. Are you sure you don't want to just throw her down there? It would make all our lives _so_ much easier."

I waited, holding my breath, stopping my struggling completely.

Scary thing was, Luke hesitated. I looked at him, bewildered and afraid that he'd actually do what Kelli was suggesting. But then I saw his facial expression change. He looked physically pained. I was hoping at the thought of killing me. I could see the war going on behind his eyes as his emotions fought against Kronos's words. But after a long, tense moment, his eyes cleared. The shadow disappeared and so did the rage. At the very least, they lessoned enough to be noticeable.

"No," Luke said quietly. "Take her back to her room. Make sure she doesn't escape. I have more"—his eyes strayed to Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson still standing where they'd been when I first arrived—"pressing matters to attend to." His eyes went back to Kelli. He seemed dazed, like the mental battle has physically worn him out.

Kelli looked like she wanted to object but Luke's eyes hardened. "Go. Now. That's an order. Don't forget who's in charge here. You _are_ replaceable."

Kelli didn't like that at all, but she held her tongue, for once, and spun around, going over to the double doors and flinging them open without a backward glance. The two other monsters followed behind her and the two demigods, holding me, took up the rear, pulling me back.

"Luke! Please, just listen to me!" I yelled, struggling against them, not making much leeway. "He's using you! Kronos is _using_ you! Don't listen to him, _please_!" I continued shouting this as they dragged me through the doors. I continued trying to slip from their grasp, which I occasionally did, but they were quick to grab me again.

I didn't stop screaming as they pulled me around the corner and down the hall. Eventually I realized it wasn't worth it anymore. I was too far away. It wasn't like he could hear me anymore.

As soon as I calmed down, I tried to think of a way to break away from my guards. I needed to get my weapons back. That was the first thing. A huge problem, too. I could maybe take down the two demigods without weapons, the problem was the monsters. One of them was heavily armed, mostly with my own weapons. The other was a hellhound. And the last was a very pissed of _empousa_ who could move surprisingly fast.

The odds were most certainly not in my favor, so I wasn't going to try. Not now, anyway.

It was quiet as we walked. At some point Kelli turned toward the _dracaena_ and muttered something too quiet for me to hear. The snake woman nodded and slither-walked off down one of the opposite halls toward, I assumed, the admiralty suite, because that's where Luke had instructed them to take the items.

At some point, close to my suite, we came to a crossroads in the hallway. Kelli suddenly stopped in the middle, the two demigods holding me doing the same. My alarm bells started to go off. I looked around the deserted hallways and then at my two guards, still holding my arms. They were looking at Kelli expectantly.

I looked back at Kelli who was now facing the three of us. She nodded, and like it'd been rehearsed, the two demigods let go of my arms and walked off in either direction, down the left and right halls, before turning a corner and disappearing.

I turned my gaze back to Kelli just in time to see her lunge at me, teeth bared, hands outstretched with nails unsheathed. If I hadn't already determined that this situation was weird after we'd stopped here, I probably wouldn't have been expecting an attack. As it was, Kelli had been pretty obvious about this fact, which worried me, but I couldn't exactly dwell on that now.

I rolled under her while going for my dagger at my ankle, glad I'd made the decision to keep it hidden. At least I still had this. While I would have preferred my sword or better yet, my bow and arrows, this would have to do. Kelli had made the wonderful suggestion to take away all my other weapons.

I pushed myself to my feet as soon as I completed the roll and brandished my knife. Kelli hesitated, glancing at it in surprise and disgust. She snarled, turning her burning red eyes back on me.

"You're going to need more than that—" she started, breaking off because I came at her, swinging my arm down at her neck, trying to stab her around that area. She blocked, pushing my arm away and I swung my other fist up trying to hit her in the lower ribs. She blocked that attack as I swung my knife at her again. Because I was closer she had to lean back and step back. I took advantage of this and quickly stepped forward, hooking my foot behind her ankle and sending her wayward.

I didn't hesitate this time as I went up to her, straddled her, getting down onto my knees so it was easier for me to stab her, and then brought my blade down at her chest. Only, it never made it. My hand froze just a moment away from running my blade through her chest.

Pain ripped through me, a burning, searing pain I'd never felt before, starting on my left side, beneath my ribcage. The burning flared out, like an explosion throughout my body, setting my veins on fire, boiling the water right out of my blood. My breath staggered and I suddenly found it was becoming harder and harder to breath. My whole body started trembling. My vision blurred and spun, going from unfocused to focused, which made it disorienting.

When I looked down, I saw a sword— _my_ sword—sticking into my left side. I had time enough to wonder how she'd gotten hold of it, because I'd definitely _seen_ the _dracaena_ walk off with it, before I realized I should pull away. Celestial bronze wasn't only damaging to monsters. The thing about it though, it didn't just wound demigods physically, it also wounded their very beings, their souls. So I wasn't sure what this meant for me.

As if she knew that I was going to pull away, Kelli grinned wickedly, quickly leaning up, toward me and putting a hand on the back of my neck. She pulled me forward, pushing the sword straight through me, and didn't stop until it was hilt-deep. We were nose to nose. All I could see were her blazing red eyes. Much like that of a hellhound, actually, now that I thought about it.

Kelli then pulled away from me, letting go of the back of my neck and the sword hilt. I was just barely able to catch myself as she slithered out from underneath me. I was struggling just to get another breath in. My vision was going dark. Kelli was speaking, but her voice sounded distant and like I'd been submerged in water.

I hit the floor slightly on my right side, to avoid further damage to my wound. Not that it really mattered though. The Celestial bronze had pierced my skin. I was pretty much done for. I reached for the sword with my left hand, gripping the hilt, but I couldn't get myself to pull it out. I had no leverage to be able to pull it out quickly or without causing any more damage. If I did, I'd probably bleed out and die before the magic of the bronze killed me anyway.

With that decided I laid there, still gripping the hilt of my sword. My right arm partially outstretched, laying over the hilt of my dagger. I was dying, but slowly. My vision continued to swim, so I closed my eyes. The pain had seemed to reach some sort of peak and stayed there, burning my body from the inside out. I found I didn't mind.

Maybe pulling out my sword was my best option. At least the end would be quicker. Then again, maybe I was holding out. Maybe I was stupidly and naïvely optimistic that Luke would find me after he was done with whatever he needed to do.

Who was I kidding with that fantasy, though? Kronos and Kelli were working their magic over him and it was obviously working. Even if he did come to visit me, how long would that be? How long was that thing out on the deck going to take? Could I hold on that long?

These were the thoughts going through my head as my vision turned murky and dark, and the pain started to slowly fade away.


	20. You Can Here it in the Silence

Waking up was hard.

In fact, I hadn't expected myself to wake up at all. At least, not in the living realm.

Waking up now reminded me of when I was younger and I'd wake up sick for one reason or another. I felt gross, lethargic and my head pounded uncomfortably. My body felt heavy and moving was a task. So I lay there for a moment, listing to my ragged, broken breathing, trying to figure out what was I was lying on.

I balled my hands into fists and picked up fabric. I rubbed it between my fingers and dared to turn my head slightly to the left and right. A bed, I was definitely lying in a bed. There were two pillows underneath my head and I was lying on top of a bed, comforter and all.

I turned my head back and looked at the ceiling, really looking at this time. It looked familiar, though I didn't think you'd be able to recognize rooms just by ceilings alone unless you'd stared and studied the ceiling until it was committed to memory, which is something not a lot of people did.

I risked turning my head more to my left and realized I recognized the ceiling because I was lying in the bed of the admiralty suite on the _Princess Andromeda_.

I sat up so quick my head spun and my vision momentarily went black. I took deep breaths, forced myself not to faint or fall back down, and swallowed the nausea that'd come with it. A dull throb had started up in my left side, but I ignored it for now.

So I was definitely still alive and still on the monster ship. I carefully threw my legs over the side of the bed, but continued sitting. I was still feeling a little dizzy and sick. To my left was the gold sarcophagus. In front of me were the two couches facing each other and coffee table between them, and on the far side of the room, parallel to the bed was the table full of food.

Carefully, to make sure my legs would hold me up and/or I wouldn't throw up, I slipped off the bed. I gripped the edge as my vision nearly blacked out again and the throb intensified. I sucked in a sharp breath and brought a hand to my mouth as the stomach rolled. I focused on breathing again until I felt I could stand without toppling over and my nausea had died down. I slowly let go of the edge of the bed and took a cautious step toward the double oak doors.

I seemed to be able to function fine, I just felt kind of lethargic and my side was especially sore.

I lifted up my shirt and realized that it was because I was still wounded pretty badly. I had bandages wrapped around my stomach, from my hips to about the bottom of my sternum. There was a thin line of red seeping through the gauze on my left side. It shouldn't have been surprising that a wound from Celestial bronze hadn't healed with nectar or ambrosia, but it was. I'd never been this badly wounded, and with my own weapon, before.

I pulled my shirt back into place and looked around the room again. That's when I noticed someone lying on the sofa closest to the bed. I crept forward quietly and saw Luke. He was sprawled out, sleeping, though he looked particularly exhausted. His face was pale, there were dark circles under his eyes. His sword was leaning against the sofa, sheathed, next to his head. My guess, easy access.

I made my around to the front, between the sofa and the coffee table. I prodded his shoulder with my finger and quickly stepped back as he jolted awake. He automatically reached for his sword but froze when he finally registered who'd woken him up. His weapon fell from his hand and he sucked in a sharp breath. Though he'd just woken up, his blue eyes were ever-keen orbs, as if he hadn't even been sleeping.

I looked at him warily, remembered how angry he'd seemed the last time we talked. I probably hadn't made it any better, telling him to turn away from his master after so long and a lot of hard work.

"You're alive," he breathed before sucking in another sharp breath and turned his head away quickly, also sitting up and planting his feet on the ground.

"Do you mind if I…" I gestured to the empty spot he'd just created on the sofa. Luke glanced at me quickly before looking back down at the floor.

"No, it's fine," he murmured, bending down to pick up his dropped sword and propping it next to him.

I hesitantly sat down, feeling lightheaded I'd been standing for too long. I had to put my hands on edge of the sofa to balance myself and keep from taking a spill.

Silence formed between us after that. I wasn't sure what to say and I didn't think Luke knew either. I didn't want to ask about any of the details, because I was afraid of the answers. Part of me wanted to know what had happened to me, how I'd even _survived_ , and the other part wanted this to be over.

The other part of me didn't want to be a demigod anymore.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye after a moment and looked to see Luke's hand near mine. I lifted my gaze to look at him. He was still looking at the ground, but momentarily looked in my direction, but not at me.

"Do you…do you mind?" he asked, moving his hand closer.

I shook my head and moved my own hand closer. As soon as I'd done that, Luke grabbed it and held it tightly. Almost to the point of pain. I looked at him harder, trying to get him to look at me with just my stare, but he continued to look down.

I couldn't understand what had happened. He seemed so…not himself. I wasn't sure how to describe it other than not himself, at all. And it worried me. Scared me. I mean, I'd just been stabbed and almost died, but this change in him scared me more than both of those things. And I wasn't exactly sure what that said about me. At the moment, I didn't care.

I continued to look at him, trying to figure out what was so wrong. He kept his head down and his vice-like grip on my hand, but didn't say a word, didn't make a sound. Suddenly I saw something drop and hit his knee. I realized with a start that it'd been a tear as the fabric of his pants darkened.

"Luke," I finally said quietly, urging him to look at me. The grip on my hand tightened ever so slightly. "Just talk to me, please."

For a long moment, I thought he wasn't going to answer. And I was okay with that, but I wanted to know what was wrong so I could make it better. I hated seeing him in such pain, even if we weren't on the best terms right now. At the very least, we were on confusing terms. I didn't know what we were anymore or what our relationship was, but I still cared about him. I still held the—possibly naïve—hope that I could save him.

"I was so scared," he finally whispered in a small voice, gripping my hand even harder. I barely registered the pain or lack of blood flow. "You were barely breathing." he continued. He tried to say more but the words seemed to get caught in his throat.

I wanted to comfort him, to tell him I was okay now, but it was quite clear that I wasn't okay, that I might not _be_ okay. And that I might still have a chance of dying from my wound. The fact that I was bandaged up and there was a dull throb in my left side told me so.

"You're wound is still pretty bad," Luke finally said, in a stronger voice, more composed. But his grip didn't lesson. He finally looked over at me before his gaze when to my wound. "It won't close. I gave you as much ambrosia and nectar as I dared, but it still won't close. You'll have to be careful moving. Change your gauze every day." His eyes finally met mine.

There were so many things I wanted to say. They all crowded into the front of my mind at once, wanting to come out of my mouth all at once, but that only made me unable to speak at all. I wanted to tell him that I was going to make it through this. I would fight this. I wanted to tell him I loved him and that I wouldn't abandon him. And a small part of me wanted to tell him that he should turn away from Kronos. What had happened in the hallway was no accident.

I don't know why Kelli hadn't finished me off when she had the chance—maybe it would no longer look like whatever explanation Kelli had come up with anymore—but the fact of the matter was, Kronos had tried to get his minions to kill me.

I wanted to say this, and I almost did too, but then I glanced at the sarcophagus. It started to glow brighter and the temperature in the room dropped slightly. It was so quick, I don't think Luke noticed. I think he was too focused on me to really notice most things at the moment. I turned my gaze back to him.

Now wasn't the time. And while I wasn't sure at what point in time I would be able to talk about this with him, I found I didn't care anymore.

"One night," I blurted, moving slightly closer to Luke and putting my free hand over both of ours. He blinked rapidly and looked down at our hands before looking up at me quizzically. "Let's just pretend…for one night that none of this exists. That we're not demigods. We're just a regular couple who won tickets for a luxurious cruise in the lottery. Can we do that? Can you do that for me?" I could hear my own desperation in my voice.

Luke looked at me for a long time before nodding once.

"We can stay in one of the rooms for the night, if you'd like that. If it'll…help," he suggested.

I relaxed, glad he'd agreed. "Yes, I'd like that."

Luke stood, still not letting go of my hand. I followed and swayed. He let go of my hand, to be able to bring his arm around my waist, balancing me, stabilizing me. I leaned into him. He was very warm. I reached up to grip the back of his shirt. It was going to be hard to pretend, but I was going to try. Just for the night, I wanted to forget about all of this.

We exited he admiralty suite and started down the hallways. At some point I put my hand on Luke's chest and he instantly took my wrist in his free hand. I was a little confused at first, but when I looked, I realized he was taking my pulse, it just looked like he was holding my wrist.

I turned to face front and pressed myself closer to him, my hand gripping his shirt just a little bit more. This had really affected him. I didn't think I'd ever seen him cry before. Now he was making sure I was still alive, even when upright, walking and talking. I wondered if I was going to have to pry it out of him or if he was going to talk to me about it on his own.

I looked back up at him. He looked weary and tried, much older than he was. Maybe I'd wait for him to cope with what'd happened. If he didn't talk to me then, I'd push for it. Maybe not the best tactic, but the last time I didn't push hard enough he joined Kronos. I wasn't going to take any risks like that anymore.

We were quiet as we walked and when we got into the empty room. It was like the room I'd been kept prisoner in, but I tried my best not to think about it. Tonight, I was a regular person with a regular boyfriend enjoying the luxuries of a cruise ship.

The silence lasted as we entered the room. Luke helped me up onto the bed before going to close the door and turn out the lights. He then climbed in next to me. I shifted so he could put his arm around me, with my head resting on his chest. I curled as close as I could to him and listened to his breathing. His arms wrapped around me tightly.

And we laid there, in silence and darkness, our breathing the only sound to be heard.

I tried to sleep, even though I'd just woken up. I felt exhausted again already, anyway. It was hard, though. There were so many things I still wanted to say, but I had requested this night off, I couldn't break that now. Still, they buzzed in my mind like a mosquito, making it hard to sleep.

I didn't know how long it was, but I was finally dozing off when Luke murmured, "I love you."

I pushed myself against him just a little more. "I love you, too." I mumbled back. Not even a few moments after that I fell asleep.

I dreamed, like I usually did. And it was the usual dreams I'd been having about Luke, about his golden eyes and cruel face. I still couldn't understand what that meant, but it was really starting to unnerve me.

The dream was always quick and short, just as terrifying as ever, but even so, when I jerked awake sunlight was streaming through the porthole, lighting up the room. I blinked the sleep from my eyes as they adjusted the brightness. I was still lying on Luke's chest. I carefully lifted myself a bit to look at him. He looked as tired as ever, but there was a new light in his eyes, some sort of panic.

It was then I realized I hadn't woken up because my dream had ended, I'd woken up because Luke had jolted.

"What?" I asked, feeling my own panic rise in my chest. "What is it?"

"We have to go," he answered quickly, before clambering off the bed and coming over to my side to help me stand.

"Luke, what's going on? What's wrong?" I asked again as he gripped my wrist and started pulling me toward the door. My left side throbbed as I moved. I tried to pull my wrist out of his grip and demand he tell me what happened to make him act like this but we hadn't even taken two steps before the door of the suite burst open.

Luke instantly took a stance in front of me, pushing me back toward the bed and the two bear monsters pushed themselves into the room. I looked from them to Luke even more confused and very worried now. They had obviously been following Luke—that was seen when I'd burst in on him and Percy in the admiralty suite—but they were now glaring at him with their beady black eyes.

"Agrius, Oreius, stand down," Luke tried in his best commanding voice, but they didn't budge.

"Sorry," Another, all too familiar voice came. "They're under different command." Kelli, in full _empousa_ from entered the room and stood between the two bear monsters. I couldn't _believe_ she was even still alive. "Temporarily." She continued with a smile for me, making my blood boil, before holding up something in her hand that I hadn't noticed until just now. It was Luke's sword. "You left something in the admiralty suite." She turned her gaze back to Luke.

Luke did something unexpected and stupid, something completely out of character for him: he lunged toward Kelli, reaching for his sword. The two monsters easily intercepted him, taking hold of his arms and forcing them behind his back before dragging him back to stand behind Kelli.

My eyes went from Luke struggling to get away from the monsters to Kelli who was now grinning at me maliciously.

"What's going on?" I asked slowly, watching the blade carefully. It wasn't like I could do much. I was already injured and I didn't have any weapons with me. But I could sure try. I was hoping my hatred for the she-demon would also help me.

Kelli feigned surprise, turning to look at Luke over her shoulder. He glared murderously at her as she asked, "You mean you didn't tell her?" melodramatically. She turned back to face me. "He was thinking about leaving us." Her voice was dripping with fake hurt and she pouted. It looked weird on a monster.

Nonetheless, I was so shocked by this I looked at Luke, who was still slightly struggling. He managed a small smile and a nod. I felt tears prick my eyes and blinked rapidly to keep them from spilling.

"No matter," Kelli said, bringing my attention back to her. "You'll be dead very soon." She then turned to Luke again. "He wanted you to watch by the way—what happens when you cross him."

Luke opened his mouth to speak but one of the bear's fists shot out, hitting Luke's face so hard blood spattered.

"Luke!" I gasped, stepping forward. Only, Kelli hit the flat of the sword against my left side. Pain shot through my body and my knees buckled. I fell against the side of the bed, holding my left side and gritting my teeth. I heard Luke call my name, which was relieving, because that meant he was okay, but it sounded distant.

A shadow passed over me and I looked up to see Kelli standing over me, brandishing Luke's sword. Her eyes glowed with anticipation, as if stabbing me once wasn't enough. I wanted to move, to defend myself, something, but my vision was swimming and now my whole body was throbbing. Luke continued to yell my name, his voice growing louder as my hearing slowly came back and the pain subsided to a dull throb.

"Any last words, half-blood?" Kelli asked, as if knowing I was becoming more consciously aware of what was going on. And by that I mean, she knew I was recovering from her blow, she'd waited just so I could feel the most amount of pain when I died. She wanted me awake and coherent.

"The ham belongs in the fridge," I spat, thinking back at her cheesy acting skills when she was telling me that Luke had decided he wouldn't help the titan lord any longer.

Kelli's eyes flared in time with her hair. She pulled the sword back, pausing before bringing it forward. I met Kelli's eyes evenly, but took a deep breath, preparing myself for the pain. Just when I thought that it was officially over for me, another unexpected thing happened.

"I'll still turn away from him," Luke shrieked. The sword stopped right before it hit its mark. Kelli turned to look at Luke as I did. He was kneeling now, probably from having been hit so hard.

"What?" she asked carefully, the sword not budging.

Luke met my eyes for a moment before he looked at Kelli.

"You kill her and I will turn away from Kronos. I won't help him anymore," he said in a low voice. "If you think killing her will get me to fall in line, then you've got another thing coming to you."

"No, Luke," I started, realizing what he was telling her. "Just let her—"

"Yes, _please_ , just let me!" Kelli exclaimed, interrupting me.

Luke met my eyes questioningly, but they were also full of fear and pain.

"No," he said in a hard voice, looking back at Kelli the emotions he'd shown me now gone. He stood, Agrius and Oreius let him, but kept hold of his arms. "You need me. There isn't a half-blood on this ship that's brave enough to host Kronos and you know it. You kill her. You don't get me."

Everything seemed to click into place, then. My dream of his gold eyes and cruel face…he was going to let Kronos _use_ his body to come back.

"No!" I cried. "No, Luke, don't—" I looked at Kelli. "Kill me. Go ahead, it's what you've wanted to do ever since I got here."

Kelli stepped back, lowering the sword's point.

"Sorry." She nodded at Agrius and Oreius, who let go of Luke and exited the room. "As much as I'd _love_ to kill you, Luke's made a better offer." With that she left, closing the door behind her.

I instantly looked over at Luke, who was looking at me with the same incredulous expression I had.

"What are you doing?" we asked simultaneously. I grabbed the edge of the bed and started to carefully get to my feet. My left side was still throbbing painfully, but that was the least of my worries right now.

"I was saving your life," Luke told me, coming over to steady me, holding one of my arms. His free hand came up to caress my face.

"Well, so was I," I responded.

"Tori—"

"No," I interrupted, tears flooding my eyes. "Luke, you had an out. You don't have to do this anymore. Just…just let me go. I'm already injured and I don't think this'll be healing any time soon—"

"Don't say that." Luke's eyes glistened with tears. He stroked my cheek with his thumb, catching one of my own tears that managed to slip out. His voice was a whisper when he spoke again. "I almost lost you. And I don't think I could—the very thought of losing you…" He had to stop and take a deep breath before resting his forehead against mine. "You were barely breathing. And so pale. I thought you _were_ dead, I thought I was too late and those moments were one of the most, if not the most, agonizing moments I have ever gone through in my entire life."

I wasn't sure what to say to that. I was stunned, maybe? He loved me so much he'd rather be Kronos's host than let them kill me.

I was thrown back to that cold, winter night when I had my conversation with Aphrodite. _Don't fret, my dear, too much about what my brothers have told you,_ she had said. _I assure you, Luke loves you very much. More than I think he realizes, even._

I didn't know what to do, what to say, if there was even anything. Instead, I inclined my head a bit so I could kiss him. And it was sweet, but it got a little too heated and I was then reminded of my wound.

I pulled away with a pained gasp and looked down at my side. My hand was still holding it and when I pulled away, a small amount of blood covered it. The spot on my shirt where my wound was, was stained red. Kelli had aggravated it too much when she'd hit me.

"Sit down," Luke instructed softly. "I'll go get some things for that." He gave me another quick kiss before swiftly leaving. I carefully pulled myself onto the edge of the bed and pulled off my shirt so he could get at the gauze and put new gauze on.

I thought about what all had happened. Everything had changed, shifted so drastically, I was reeling. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Here I had come to save Luke from himself only to become the very thing he needed saving from. I'd become the monster. As long as I was alive, so was Kronos's goal.

* * *

 You'd think after changing gauze I don't even know how many times, it would get faster each time. Not for me. And I wasn't sure if it was because I was tired of being injured if it was because I was tired of life.

I moved slowly and carefully as I unwrapped my old bandages, looked at my wound, sighed heavily, wished it would heal, wondered why it wouldn't, then grabbed the fresh gauze and slowly started wrapping it around my stomach again.

I was sitting on the edge of my bed, in my new room. I was no longer treated like a prisoner. I could walk around the ship freely and I didn't have a bunch of guards following me. But I saw Luke less and less. I had to fight for his attention. And when I say fight, I mean when he came to visit me, I had to ask him to stay for five minutes and just hold me. Sometimes we'd just stand close to each other for a minute before he was rushed off to continue trying to take over the world with the titan lord. I didn't know what they were doing or planning that was so important that he had to be away so much, but it was maddening.

Anyway, I had finished wrapping my stomach up and reached for my shirt. I got my head through the top just as I thought I heard someone clear their throat. I pulled the shirt down and looked at the door, thinking someone had come in, but the door was still closed. The person cleared their throat again and I realized the noise had come from behind me. I pulled my shirt down the rest of the way and turned look over my shoulder.

Floating in an Iris Message on the other side of the bed was none other than the face of Percy Jackson.

I blinked before shifting and moving over to the other side of the bed so I could be closer.

" _Percy?_ " I asked incredulously before glancing nervously at the door. I didn't have guards out there, but I was afraid someone was going to come bursting in suddenly and see this, which wouldn't be good.

Instead of answering me, however, Percy just looked at me. His face was a strange combination of angry and confused. His dark eyebrows were mashed together and his mouth was a thin line, but his green eyes shone with confusion, like he was fighting against his anger. I wasn't sure what that was all about, but I didn't have time for him to just stare at me.

"Well, you messaged me for a reason, I'm assuming you wanted to talk to me." I told him. He blinked, his expression lessoning a little, though his eyebrows stayed slightly furrowed. He still didn't say anything. "This isn't going to work. I may be the daughter of Apollo, but that doesn't make me a mind reader."

"Are you okay?" Percy finally asked.

I jerked back slightly. "What?" My hand automatically went up to cover the side my wound was on. I tried to cover this action by crossing my other arm over my stomach to make it look like I'd been loosely crossing my arms as I stuttered, "I-I'm fine." but I had to remind myself Percy was way more perceptive than I gave him credit for. And it was clear by the face he was giving me, he didn't believe a word I said.

"Look, it's not really any of your business, so, let's just move on." I told him.

Percy paused for a moment, looking at me through narrowed eyes before he opened them fully and asked, "Do you know what Luke's been up to?" His voice was hard. It wasn't angry, though he still kind of looked it.

I scoffed. "No one is allowed to talk to me about that stuff. Including Luke." I muttered.

"'Not _allowed_ '?" Percy repeated. I picked at my shirt on my left side.

"Long story," I waved my other hand dismissively and rolled my eyes.

"Involving your wound?" Percy questioned. "Did Luke hurt you?" My eyes snapped back to the IM and I stopped picking at my shirt. It wasn't just that Percy knew that I was hurt, but also the fact that he sounded almost…angry at the thought that Luke would've hurt me.

"I appreciate your concern, but Luke would never hurt me." I assured him. Percy's cheeks reddened slightly and he reached up to scratch his ear.

"Yeah, well…you're a good person," Percy muttered, looking away. "At least, I think you are." His eyes went back to me, pretty penetrating for a thirteen year old. "But you're pretty caught up with the wrong crowd."

"I can't give up on Luke. I'm not going to do that to him." I reminded him. At this point in time, I figured there had to be a way to convince him to let me go so he wouldn't have to host Kronos. That, or maybe even a way that we'd both make it out of this alive, but that was the longest shot, I didn't think about that option much.

"He's not a good guy, Tori," Percy urged.

"You don't know that—"

"He kidnapped Annabeth," he interrupted.

"What do you mean?" I asked carefully.

"He kidnapped Annabeth," he repeated, anger seeping into his voice. "Used her as bait to capture Artemis."

"Artemis? Like, _the_ goddess Artemis?" I questioned. Percy nodded. "And he used…Annabeth?"

"He got her take some…" He shook his head as eyebrows furrowed. "Some kind of heavy burden for him. Artemis didn't like seeing her suffer"—his voice faltered a bit—"so she took the burden. I don't know where Annabeth is now. But she wasn't looking so good…"

"Is that why you contacted me?" I asked.

He nodded. "I thought about contacting Annabeth, but I wasn't sure if she'd have guards. Besides, there isn't much I can do for her over Iris Message. I thought maybe you'd know more, but if no one talks to you about what they're up to—"

"Oh no," I stopped him. "I'm going to go talk to Luke after this. And I'll find Annabeth. I'll make sure she's okay."

Percy blinked. "Just like that?"

"I'm not a bad person," I reminded him.

"You just love a bad person," he commented.

I sighed. "Stop while you're ahead, kid."

Percy's green eyes flashed in annoyance. "I wish you'd stop calling me that."

"Well, I wish you'd stop calling my boyfriend evil. Looks like we both won't get what we want…kid." I smirked when I noticed a hint of a pout on Percy's features. Behind me, through the door, I heard some footsteps pass by, reminding me where I was. "I should go now. I'll try to IM you as soon as I know about Annabeth. I'm sure she's fine."

"…thanks," Percy mumbled awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah…sure thing," I muttered back before waving my hand through the IM. The image disappeared and I was alone again. I took a deep breath. Talking with Percy had been nice, if only because it'd taken my mind off my throbbing wound. A wound that hadn't healed for months now. You'd think I should be dead, and in all fairness, I probably should've been. At this point, it was the nectar and ambrosia keeping me alive.

Maybe finding Luke would help me take my mind off it again.


	21. Same Mistakes

I didn't have any weapons on me. Even though it was decided I was no longer a prisoner, someone convinced Luke to keep my weapons. I didn't know where they were—I'd checked the admiralty suite already. That didn't matter to me right now, though, I was focused on finding Luke. Still, I _was_ wounded, so I had to be more careful.

I took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping outside. There was no one in the hallways, but I hadn't expected there to be. Ever since Percy had gotten away with the Golden Fleece (I'd learned later), things had changed on this ship. Kronos seemed to be working harder and harder to achieve his goal. We gathered more and more monsters and angry demigods every day. Some were mere kids and I hated seeing them so angry so young.

Now the ship swarmed with those demigods and monsters. I don't know where the zombie passengers had disappeared to, but if I thought about it too much my stomach rolled and I felt sick.

Anyway, I started down one of the halls. I'd come to know this ship well, I no longer needed the YOU ARE HERE signs to navigate my way around. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, someone who knew where Luke was, I supposed, but I didn't know who that'd be either.

My best bet was to start with a monster and work my way up from there.

I waited at a crossroads as a hellhound plodded past. Preferably, I'd want a monster that could talk. I watched as it turned down another corner before continuing on, on the lookout for possibly a _dracaena_. I wasn't sure that I'd gotten over my irrational fear of hellhounds, but I'd been around them so much I was better able to suppress it.

When I found a _dracaena_ , who was decked out in armor with a spear and weighted net, because I didn't have a weapon to threaten her with, I did the next best thing. I ran up next to her and put my arm out in her path, pressing my palm against the wall.

She stopped short, hissing, her snake-eyes turning to glare at me.

"Hi," I said with a smile. "I'm looking for Luke. Do you happen to know where he might be?"

Her eyes narrowed. "You know the rulesssss, demigod," she hissed. The snake-woman tried to continue forward, but I didn't budge. In fact, I stepped in front of her, completely blocking her path with my whole body.

Instead of saying anything she wielded her spear. It was a good thing I was anticipating an attack. I quickly veered away and leaned back to avoid getting my neck sliced open. I could feel pain blossom in my side, but I ignored it. So much for being careful.

I thought for sure she was going to throw the weighted net at me, but she didn't. She gripped it in her hand as she slashed and stabbed at me. I kept some of my focus on the net, but most of it was trying to dodge her spear and not aggravate my wound more.

"You know, you'll be in big trouble if you kill me," I told her, ducking as her spear sailed over my head.

"Orderssss are orderssss," she responded, jabbing at me again. I leaped back.

"What orders?" I was incredulous that there would still be attempts at my life after everything that happened.

"You ask about Luke, you get taught a lesssson," the snake-woman answered about as vaguely as possible, stabbing at me again. Only, this time, I grabbed the shaft of the spear, like the time I'd grabbed Clarisse's spear. Before the _dracaena_ could react to this, I pushed the shaft with all my might and jabbed her with the butt of the spear in the stomach. Her hand slipped and I spun the spear in my hands, so I was pointing it at her now.

I had a moment of triumph, feeling good that I'd finally put my training to good use, but was humbled quickly when I was reminded that she had a weighted net.

She didn't throw it at me, but she snapped it much like a whip, painfully catching one of my ankles. The hallways blurred as I fell, spear still in hand. My vision blacked for a moment and when my eyes cleared, the _dracaena_ was standing over me with a dagger I hadn't seen on her earlier.

As she raised it, I sat up slightly and stabbed the spear at her, blindly, hoping I'd hit a chink in her armor. I watched, taking in a deep breath and letting it out, as she froze before bursting into sulfurous dust. I flinched as her dagger tumbled from the air, but thankfully it landed next to my leg. As the adrenaline rush slowly faded, I lowered my arm and slumped back down to the ground, closing my eyes and catching my breath.

I was starting to get really tired of these close calls. On the up side, I now had a spear and a dagger. I wasn't going to take the weighted net because I'd never worked with them before. I probably would end up getting myself tangled up in it if I tried.

I searched her pile of armor for the dagger's sheath. When I found it, I sheathed the dagger and strapped it around my waist before picking the spear back up. My side protested as I started walking, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through the pain. It was a good thing I left with a baggie of ambrosia in one pocket and another roll of bandages in the other pocket. But those were both for after I found Luke.

I navigated my way through the halls, on the lookout for someone I could interrogate.

Instead of another _dracaena_ , however, I came across a familiar face. Someone I'd trained with before, someone I'd seen at camp for as long as I could remember. It was always jolting to see him here. Demigods I didn't know was saddening, demigods from Camp Half-Blood was worse.

Even so, maybe he'd know where Luke was. I ditched my spear because I was afraid that he'd think the wrong thing if I approached him with a weapon out before getting his attention.

"Chris," I called (yes, the same Chris from the Hermes cabin; the same Chris I'd stood next to during the capture the flag game I was electrocuted), for I had turned down the hallway he'd been heading down, too. He jumped and turned around, eyes wide. He wasn't decked out in armor as the _dracaena_ had been, but he did have his sword on him.

"Hey, Tori," he greeted as I jogged up to him (I would later decide that was not a good idea for my side). We continued walking down the hall. "What's up? I don't see you around often."

"Yeah, well…decided to take a stroll," I shrugged. "I actually wanted to ask you something." I said, looking over at him, watching his movements carefully.

"What's that?"

"How would you react if I told you I was looking for Luke?" I asked. It was at this point I was glad he was a right hander. As I thought he would, he reached for his sword, but because I was anticipating this, I angled myself toward him and reached for his sword, too, with my left hand as I hooked my foot against his ankle. As I pulled his leg out from underneath him, I grasped the hilt of Chris's sword and it slid out of its sheath easily as he fell.

As soon as his back had hit the floor, I pointed the tip of his sword under his chin. He glared up at me, his mouth set in a deep frown.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked.

"I was acting out of self-defense," I protested a little mockingly. "Don't you think it's a little contradictory that you've been ordered to attack me if I want to know what Luke is up to, but if you kill me—which is a highly likely possibility—Luke won't help Kronos anymore?"

"Hey, I just take the orders, I don't question them," Chris defended, holding up his hands in an "I surrender" gesture as he shrugged.

I watched him carefully for a few moments to decide if he had other weapons on him before taking a few steps back, pulling the sword away from his throat. I turned the sword around in my hand.

"I like this sword," I said, testing the balance. It wasn't too bad. I preferred _my_ sword, but this would have to do for now, until I could get my own weapons back. "I think I'll keep it." I turned my eyes back to Chris, who'd stood up at this point. "So, Luke?"

"If I'm killed for this, I blame you," he said after a moment. "And I'm only telling you this because I like you."

"I'm touched," I commented.

Chris rolled his eyes. "No one else but that _empousa_ is allowed where Luke goes these days. What's her name? Cory? Kathy…?"

"…Kelli," I managed through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, Kelli, that's the name." His eyes went back to me and he seemed to realize something. "Oh, yeah…I heard about what happened." His eyes flickered to my left side. "Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up—"

I waved my hand, meaning for it to be a passive gesture, but forgot I still had a sword in it and ended up making Chris jump a mile before taking a step back.

I took a deep breath. "It's fine," I half-growled. "I mean, she only stabbed me. With my own weapon." My grip tightened on my new sword with every word. Chris swallowed nervously and took another step back. "Do you know where I can find her, by chance?"

His eyes went from my hand to my face and he blinked rapidly. "What? Oh, uh, yeah, you're lucky day actually. I saw her just a bit ago out on the fiesta deck, speaking with some other monsters. I mean, she _might_ still be there—"

Chris broke off as I started to turn away, switching the sword into my right hand.

"Thanks!" I called over my shoulder before turning down another hallway, heading for the fiesta deck.

My side was really starting to bother me now, but I let my anger fuel me. I was anticipating the day I'd finally be able to kill Kelli, if that day ever even came. I could definitely imagine it, though, how satisfying it would be to finally dust her. I wanted to see how much she liked being stabbed.

I was elated to find that she was still chatting with some monsters on the fiesta deck when I arrived. I didn't even wait to think of a plan in case they attacked, I simply barged in on their meeting.

"Oh, Kelli!" I called, pulling my dagger from its sheath. All the monsters—there were four, including Kelli—turned to look at me. I went straight for the she-demon, hooking my foot at her ankle and tripping her before she realized what was going on. I straddled her, not bothering to pin her arms, and leaned in close, pressing my arm up against her neck, resting the dagger's point on the floor of the deck, but poised, ready to turn her to dust if she made the wrong move.

I looked at the other monsters over my shoulder and quickly held out my sword, keeping them a good distance away.

"I would leave now," I warned them, "unless you want to take a one-way trip down to Tartarus."

They had their weapons drawn, but were looking at my sword warily. I was glad I'd made the reputation of a good fighter on this ship or this wouldn't have worked as well as it had.

Finally, they started to shuffle away, still gripping their own weapons and glaring at me murderously, but still headed away. Once they were gone, I turned my attention back to Kelli.

"Luke: take me to him," I ordered.

She sneered. "You know the rules, half-blood. You ask about Luke—"

I turned and lifted my sword in time to block an attack. I stood to face the _dracaena_ , bringing my sword back and slicing her head clean off before spinning back around and pointing my sword at Kelli's throat right as she was about to lunge at me.

"I'm taught a lesson," I finished, pressing the tip to the base of her throat, between her collar bones. "I know. Where do you think I got these handy weapons?"

"I could just kill you, you know? Coming to me was a _big_ , _stupid_ mistake," she growled, hands balling into fists.

I smiled as I sheathed my dagger again. "You know, I've actually been thinking about that. I pointed something out to another demigod a little bit ago—actually he was so generous to lend me his sword—that you've been ordered to attack me if I go inquiring about Luke, but if I were to die, you wouldn't have him anymore.

"And, you know, I just think that's so strange. Why would you risk so much to keep me from knowing what Kronos is up to? So here's what I came up with, me and Kronos, we're at a stalemate. He can't kill me without losing an important piece of this game, but I can't stop him unless one of you guys kills me—"

"So what's your point?" Kelli spat.

I grinned. "You can't kill me. Not without angering your powerful, titan lord. You may be stronger than your sisters, Kelli, but I have a feeling Kronos wouldn't be opposed to sending you back to Tartarus for setting him back so severely, it might be _decades_ before he can reform again. Plenty of time to disband this ship, destroy that golden coffin, and stop him for even longer than decades." I paused to let that sink in. "So, take me to Luke, or you'll be taking an early trip back home."

* * *

 I'd been so busy being angry at and attacking Kelli I hadn't realized that the ship had been docked on a shore that was at the base of a large mountain. Mount Tamalpais, to be exact, in California, near San Francisco, a place we were told to never go because it was much too dangerous for demigods.

Now, here I was standing on it, in the midst of reforming ruins of what looked to be a palace of some kind.

"Mount Orthrys," Kelli said suddenly, making me jump. "It's reforming, with the titans growing stronger."

I was panting and my side was throbbing painfully by the time we got to our destination. It looked like a room, but because this was still reforming, it was half-finished. No walls, no ceiling, just pitch black pillars, raised up on a large platform. That was the only reason I could tell it was a room, because of the pillars and the platform, about half the size of a football stadium.

Because there were no walls, I could see inside. I recognized Luke instantly, but the person he was talking to, I didn't. He was dressed in an awfully fancy suit for being on a mountain. He had a tall and very muscular physique. His skin was a light brown and his hair was dark, slicked back. He had broad shoulders with hands the size of baseball mitts. His back was to me, so I couldn't see his face, but I didn't know if I wanted to. This guy gave off a powerful, terrifying vibe.

Kelli turned toward me.

"Wait here," she instructed in a cold voice, her eyes as hard a rubies.

I leaned on the sword, using it like a walking stick. "No problem." I muttered as she walked inside. I watched her go up to the tall guy and Luke. She turned slightly and pointed at me, saying something else. Luke looked startled to see me here, the other man looked intrigued, annoyed and angry at the same time. I wasn't sure what that was about, but I moved my eyes back to Luke, who was still gazing at me, but worriedly now.

I wasn't sure if it was because I _looked_ beat or because of the big, scary dude he was standing next to. Luke jumped suddenly, his eyes going back to the big, scary dude. I figured he must be speaking. After a moment, the worry from Luke's eyes and face cleared and he nodded once.

With that, the big, scary dude and Kelli turned and headed in my direction. I was right when I said I didn't want to see his face. It was brutal and hard, set in a permanent scowl. His eyes were like stone, cold and hard with a rough, mean look in them.

I shuffled to the side, allowing them as much room as possible. I kept my gaze on the ground as they passed, but I could feel the big, scary dude's eyes on me. Still, I didn't look up until I saw them a good distance away in my peripherals.

I turned to look for Luke, who was still standing where he'd last been. I started forward, into the room. I was slow because I was in pain, but Luke closed the distance between us much faster.

"What are you doing?" he asked concern coloring his voice as he reached up to put a hand on my shoulder and caress my face.

"You're really bad at this 'Good to see you thing' thing," I replied, taking a step toward him and leaning into him, making sure to keep the tip of the sword pointed at the ground. He put his arms around me and I closed my eyes, breathing in his scent, marveling at his warmth. We hadn't seen each other in what felt like a long time.

"They could've killed you," he said quietly, rubbing my back.

I chuckled airily. "I found a loophole," I whispered, the pain really getting to me now. Luke pulled back slightly, holding me up by putting his hands on either side of my upper forearms. He examined me for a long moment before he gently lifted my shirt to look at my wound. Blood had soaked through the bandages, so much so I was surprised it hadn't soaked through my shirt yet.

"Tori—" he started, eyes going back to me.

"It's okay," I interrupted, pulling away from him and reaching into my pockets to grab my ambrosia and the roll of bandages with my free hand. "I came prepared."

Luke let out a shaky, weary sigh.

"I hate you," he whispered waveringly. I managed a weak smile. "Come on, I'll help you with that." He put an arm around my shoulders and led me to a black marble bench near the edge of the room. I sat down on the edge, leaned the sword next to me up against the bench, and rolled up my shirt (wasn't going to take it off with everything so open; not going to take that chance), so Luke could get at the bandages. Meanwhile, I nibbled on the ambrosia I'd brought, making sure not to take too much. We were both silent for the time it took Luke to unravel my old bandages and ravel the new ones on. When he was finished, he sat down next to me, taking my hand into his.

"Do you know who I was talking to?" he asked, breaking the silence. I looked over at him.

"Five minutes?" I asked softly. He squeezed my hand.

"Of course," he answered, dropping my hand so he could wrap his arm around my shoulders and pull me closer to him. I leaned into him again and breathed in his comforting scent. He was much warmer than I was, and I wasn't sure if it was because I just naturally had low body temperature, or because I'd worked my body past the limit I should have, seeing as I had a pretty bad, gaping wound in my side, or if it was because we were outside on a mountain.

Nonetheless, I shifted closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder, huddling as close to him as I could. He put his arms around me, gently rubbing my arm, feeling how close I was, probably. I listened to his even breathing, it was relaxing and calming.

The ambrosia had helped, but there was only so much that it could do. For example, it couldn't heal souls. Every day since Kelli had stabbed me, I felt like the essence of me was slowly slipping away. I grew weaker and more lethargic, I tired easily, and moving was a task just because of my open wound. I couldn't understand why it wouldn't heal; no matter the healing powers or nectar and ambrosia I ingested, it remained open and sore. It didn't grow larger or bleed a whole lot, but if I aggravated it, it would bleed.

Even if I did manage to heal my wound, I didn't know what it was going to take to heal my soul. I was at a loss and I had a bad feeling that was only making things worse.

Being with Luke again felt nice. I didn't feel like I was slipping away as much, but being with him also reminded me of our situation, of the stalemate that cropped up between me the titan lord, with Luke caught in crossfire.

About half-way through our five minutes, Luke stopped rubbing my arm and moved his hand to caress my face, tilting it up so I could meet his eyes, so we could kiss. His lips were rough, and his hands were calloused, but he was always so gentle with me, and more recently, careful like I was made of glass.

He reminded me a lot of the saying, "Diamond in the rough" just with the circumstances surrounding him and the mistakes he'd made throughout his life. I didn't agree with his allegiance to Kronos, but I couldn't abandon him, not like his father. I just couldn't.

When we finally pulled away, we were both breathing heavily. Our five minutes were up. It was back to being demigods.

I carefully put an inch or two between him and me, but took his hand in mine.

"Who were you talking to?" I asked, looking down at her entwined hands.

"Atlas," he answered. My eyes flew up to him to see if he was joking. Of course, you couldn't really joke about something like that, but it still shocked me. It made sense to me now that I'd find a titan's appearance brutal and scary. Especially a scorned titan who's had to hold up the sky for eternity.

"You mean Atlas, like the titan who holds up the sky Atlas?" I asked anyway to just hear him say it out loud, make it more true for me.

"Yes," Luke confirmed.

"If he's free then who—?" I started to ask just as something Percy told me echoed through my head, _He got her to take some…some heavy burden for him._ Luke had taken it from Atlas, who then got Annabeth to take it from him, which lured Artemis to take the burden from her. Annabeth had held up the sky! No wonder Percy was worried about her, though it didn't sound like he knew that's what she'd held.

"Artemis," Luke said, answering my question. He was looking at me, gauging my reactions.

"The goddess, Artemis," I whispered, unnecessarily. Luke nodded, gripping my hand a little tighter.

"Why does it matter who you were talking to?" I questioned, switching topics for a moment.

"He could've killed you," he said, gripping my hand even tighter. "You interrupted us during an important meeting and he could've killed you." Luke didn't sound angry, he sounded worried and scared, but I couldn't be completely sure.

I moved a little closer to him.

"He wouldn't have," I tried to assure him.

"How can you be so sure?" he whispered.

"If I'm dead, Kronos doesn't have you. Atlas wouldn't risk that," I explained in my own hoarse whisper.

Some anger blossomed in Luke's features. "You don't know that. Atlas is a titan too and Kronos hasn't even reformed fully yet." He let go of my hand and stood up, agitated now. "You could've died, Tori." He turned to face me again. He was still angry, but beneath that was what he was trying to hide and it was the panic and fear that I'd seen when we spoke about when I was stabbed and had almost died.

I struggled to stand, my right hand going up to my left side instinctively to hold it. Luke instantly came forward to balance me. I leaned into him, holding onto his shoulder.

"But you're not _that_ stubborn, or reckless," he continued in a softer voice. "You wouldn't have aggravated your wound just to spend five minutes with me."

"Not that stubborn?" I repeated. "You're hilarious." I stated dryly. "And lucky you're cute."

Some of the anger and fear dissipated as Luke leaned forward to kiss my forehead.

"So, then, what's bothering you?" he queried. I pulled away so I could look at him.

"Annabeth?" I asked, watching him carefully, afraid of his reaction.

Luke dropped his arms and took a step back. "What about her?"

"I know what you did," I said, taking a step toward him. He turned away.

"I don't want to talk about this right now," he said loudly, his hands furling and unfurling.

"I think we should," I told him, raising my own voice. "What you did was wrong. She's your _friend_ , Luke."

Luke spun around and came up to me. "You think I don't know that?" he snapped. "You think it's easy for me to choose between two people I love?"

"I never said that—" I tried.

He reached up to grip my arms. "But I had to choose," he interrupted in a quiet but fervid voice. "I had to choose because it was deceive her or lose you and I just…I couldn't— You both mean so much to me, but I couldn't—" He broke off, shaking his head and looking down.

I slowly, gently put my finger underneath his chin and pushed his head up so I could look at him before dropping my arm. We gazed at each other for a long time and it was then I realized the bags under his eyes, how he looked like he'd aged several years. His skin was pale, his hair was grey, and his scar was angry and red. How I hadn't noticed this before was baffling to me. It had to be from bearing the weight of the sky, it was the only thing I could think of that would make him look like this, it was the only thing that made sense to me, given the circumstances.

I reached up again to gently brush my fingertips underneath one of his eyes.

"You've been having nightmares," I said softly.

Pain flashed in his blue eyes. "Just a reminder," he choked out, his grip tightening on my arms. He didn't finish, but I knew what he meant: a reminder of what would happen should he disobey Kronos's orders.

I waited for a moment before asking, "Is Annabeth okay?"

Luke nodded, dropping his hands and straightening up. "Yes." His voice was stronger now, if not a little strained. "Atlas wanted to kill her, but I convinced him to keep her alive; to continue to be used as bait."

"To continue?"

"She was originally used so we could get Artemis out of the picture. But Silena told us a few days ago that a group of Hunters of Artemis and demigods was sent out to come rescue her. Annabeth added to the incentive to come to Mount Tam."

"Percy," I murmured, realizing this was probably how he knew about Annabeth's capture. I don't know how he'd been informed, but with Annabeth in trouble, there's no way he'd stay behind and let someone else go on the quest to rescue Artemis, and, by extension, Annabeth.

"Yes," Luke said, though he looked confused as to how I knew that.

"Lucky guess," I told him, brushing it off.

"There's also something else…" His tone was nervous, but anticipatory, almost excited. I waited, my heart thumping in my chest irregularly. "You remember Thalia, right?" I nodded. Luke took a deep breath, "Well, she's back. I mean, she's alive again."

I blinked, stunned. She'd come back from being a tree? How was that even possible? It didn't make sense to me.

"The Golden Fleece," Luke explained like he'd ready my mind, or my confused facial expression. "I poisoned Thalia's tree so that someone would go look for the Fleece to heal her tree and the magic borders around camp. Only, it didn't just heal the tree and repair the border, it brought Thalia back." That night in the admiralty suite, when Kelli had convinced Luke to poison the tree in the first place suddenly made much more sense to me now.

"So why…" I trailed off, just not quite sure how this was relevant to the group coming to rescue Artemis.

"There's a prophecy, the Great Prophecy, that foretells of the potential of Kronos's rise and Olympus's fall. In that prophecy, it states that a half-blood of one of the three eldest gods was born to make a decision when they're sixteen that will either preserve or destroy Olympus. Thalia is the daughter of Zeus and almost sixteen, and with the group that is coming to rescue Artemis.

"If I can talk to her, convince her to join me, then I won't—" He broke off, unable to say it.

"Won't have to host Kronos," I finished for him, feeling lightheaded at all this new information. Luke nodded, swallowing hard. I didn't want to reiterate the part of the plan where he had to convince Thalia to join his side. If she was traveling with Percy that was indication enough that she wasn't going be allying herself with Kronos. At least, not easily. And that worried me, because a blow like that would hurt Luke so much.

Thalia and Annabeth were so close to his heart, I couldn't even begin to imagine how much it took to push past that and kidnap Annabeth, trick her into holding up the sky to lure Artemis. Now he was putting his hopes on Thalia, to save him from a terrible fate and I was afraid that she was going to let him down. This must have been taking a toll on him, surely. And maybe it had, maybe it wasn't just the weight of the sky that had aged him, but all this stress and worry—for this plan, for Annabeth, for me.

I blinked and tried to focus, though, because Luke was looking at me, waiting for my reaction.

I forced a smile and reached up to brush the back of my fingers against his cheek before brushing some hair from his eyes.

"That's great news," I whispered, hoping I didn't sound as scared as I felt. I didn't have the heart to dash his hopes before anything even happened. Maybe I was just a pessimist and this would work out…maybe. Hopefully. Wanting to get off this topic, I swallowed hard and steeled my nerves, letting my arms fall to my side. "Do you think I could go talk to Annabeth?"

Luke blinked. "What?"

"I just…want to talk to her real quick, I shouldn't be long. I want to know how she's doing. She probably doesn't get a lot of visitors, being a prisoner and all— I mean I'd know— I'm sorry, I should've had said that." I stopped my babbling and sighed. I took a moment to reign myself in and continued speaking again. "I just want to talk with her. Is that all right?"

Luke looked around, considering this, but he did a double take to his left. I followed his gaze and saw the flaming hair of Kelli standing on the edge of this platform/room space.

"That's my cue," Luke muttered, looking back at me. "…sure, I'll take you to Annabeth." He kissed my forehead and then went to grab the sword I'd left leaning against the bench. He handed it to me and started leading me toward where Kelli was standing. She was leaning heavily on one leg, her arms crossed. She looked impatient.

Before she could speak as we passed her, however, Luke beat her to it. "Five more minutes," he said in a low voice and slowly like he was talking to a five-year-old. Kelli's eyes flashed in time with the flaring of her hair but she remained quiet. We continued on and I was surprised to see that they were keeping Annabeth on the mountain and not on the ship. Of course, on the mountain it was easier to monitor her. Also, on the ship, there were so many possibilities for her to escape—she was the daughter of Athena, after all—so it made sense.

That didn't mean her accommodations were great. They'd built a cage of Celestial bronze in a 12-foot by 12-foot square with a mental sheet covering the top in the corner of a cliff face. Inside was just a cot for her to lay on. Outside were two _dracaena_ guards, a few feet away. Luke stopped a few yards away, turning toward me.

"I'll have someone come escort you back when you're done," he said. "Duty calls." He gave me a quick kiss before jogging back the way we'd come. I leaned heavily on the sword and looked ahead.

When I'd first looked, Annabeth had been laying on her cot. My second time around, she'd stood and was at the bars, arms crossed. Even from this far away, I could feel her stormy grey eyes boring a hole into my skull. Why was I doing this again? Oh, yeah, because I'd developed a soft spot for a certain green-eyed son of Poseidon.

Maybe I also hoped if I could talk to Annabeth, I could get a feel about how angry she was at Luke. If she wasn't too angry, maybe Luke had a chance after all with Kronos's Thalia plan.

I slowly picked my way up toward the cage. The _dracaenae_ crossed their spears for a moment as I approached them.

"Don't try to help her esssscape," one hissed.

The other one started to speak, but I interrupted her. "You know what, if you think I'm trying anything—anything at all—I give you permission to shoot me." I then waved my hand to indicate I wanted them uncross their spears. Glaring at me balefully, they let me through.

"Well, well, well," Annabeth said as soon as I got within earshot. "If it isn't my favorite double agent. Or is it triple agent? Oh, wait, maybe it's quadruple agent—"

"The sarcasm is strong in this one," I replied just as sarcastically, if not a little breathlessly. My side throbbed and I made my way over to the cliff side to the left of me. Annabeth followed to the edge of her cage.

"Everything all right?" she asked slowly, eyeing me up and down.

I turned and leaned my back against the rocks, trying not to pant.

"I'm fine," I muttered, forcing my hand to stay at my side instead of hold it. I rested my sword against the rocks as well, making sure I had easy access to it.

"What do you want?" Annabeth asked haughtily. At least I knew they were treating her well enough she felt she could act like herself around me. Percy would be relieved to hear, I'm sure.

"What makes you think I want something?" I struggled to sit down, trying not to make faces as my side protested. "I just came to talk." I finished, breathing hard.

"You are hurt," she decided after a moment's pause.

"What…makes you say…that," I panted, leaning my head back and taking a deep breath. There was really no use lying to her now, but I was too stubborn to stop, at least in words. "Don't you trust me?" When I looked back at Annabeth, she'd taken a seat on the edge of her cot. She was staring at a spot on the ground intently.

"No, I don't," she said quietly, looking back up at me. She rolled her eyes then, scoffing. "But Percy seems to, for some reason. I can't fathom why." Her intense eyes went back to me. "I don't know what you did, but he seems to think you're one of the good guys."

"I am one of the good guys," I argued.

"No, you said so yourself, on the ship a few months ago, that you weren't doing this for the gods, you're doing this for Luke," Annabeth pointed out. "That if it saved Luke, you'd do it. You'd risk the world to save him. And that makes you dangerous."

"You're one to talk," I said, my anger flaring, giving me more energy momentarily. "You took the weight of the sky for him."

Annabeth looked away, crossing her arms and pouting. "Yes, but he tricked me— _used_ me—and look where I ended up." She gestured to her cage.

I smiled knowingly and maybe a little sad, and looked out across the mountain. I could see the ocean from here. The day was coming to an end, twilight was here. "And yet," I started, "you still love him. Even after everything he's done, you find you still care for him." I looked back at Annabeth. She was silent for once, glaring at a spot on the ground again.

We sat there in silence for a long time before she finally spoke again, "It doesn't really matter, does it? Because he loves _you_."

"He still cares about you," I disagreed. "He loves you too, just not romantically. You share a special bond with him that I would never be able to come close to."

Annabeth scoffed. "He sure has a funny way of showing it, tricking me and then using me to lure Artemis here."

"But you'll forgive him," I stated off-handedly, thinking about Luke's plan and looking out across the ocean again. About Kronos's plan to try and convince Thalia to join their side. And about how scared Luke was if he was to become Kronos's host. About how horrible he must feel inside for having tricked his friend to hold up the sky. All because of me, all because he didn't want me to die. It was all my fault.

"You know, part of me feels like I abandoned him. Just like his father." I said, keeping my eyes on the sea, the sun was just starting to sink below the waves: a beautiful sight. "Part of me wishes I'd seen all that anger that'd been building up inside of him. I should've, but I didn't, so I feel like I abandoned him in his time of need. If I'd just done this, or just done that, we wouldn't be here anymore." I looked back at Annabeth to ask her if she felt the same way, but she'd lied down and her back was now facing me.

I knew she wasn't asleep, but didn't ask her anyway and carefully stood up, my side aching, unnecessarily brushing my jeans off.

"Percy sent me," I told her in a lower voice, glancing at the _dracaenae_ to see if they'd make any inclination they'd heard me.

Sher turned slightly to look at me over her shoulder, eyes narrowed, but said nothing.

"This wasn't some random visit. A group of Hunters and demigods," I continued, grabbing my sword. "They're coming for you." I paused and thought about this. "Well, they're coming for Artemis, technically. But Percy is awfully worried about you."

Annabeth quickly turned back around, but if my eyes weren't deceiving me, she was blushing, the tips of her ears tinged pink.

"Thalia's included in that group," I added to see if she would respond with more than a glare, but no such luck. Not that I was expecting it, anyway. She was clearly done talking with me.

With one last look, I turned and slowly started away to go find Luke again—no point in waiting for his escort.


	22. The Sharp Knife

The day was upon us. The day that would decide if Luke would still have to host Kronos.

And Luke wasn't going to let me attend this meeting.

We were standing on Mount Tam, in the unfinished room Kelli had led me to a few days ago, when I'd gone out to search for Luke. (On a sidenote, I'd contacted Percy soon after my meeting with Annabeth, he was relieved to hear she was okay, to say the least. We couldn't talk long, however.) Near what I called the entrance of this place, were six _dracaenae_ standing next to Kronos's golden coffin. Atlas was also with them. He stood stock still, arms crossed over her chest. He watched both Luke and I with a strange kind of interest. It was uncomfortable, feeling his hard, cold stare on us, but I ignored it as best as I could. I was kind of in the middle of an argument.

"It's too dangerous," Luke protested. "If Thalia doesn't agree…" His voice faltered and looked away for a moment, but I didn't miss the pain in his eyes. Finally he collected himself enough to look at me again, his voice was lower and restrained, "If she doesn't agree then a fight's going to break out and I don't want you in the middle of that."

"I'm not as fragile as you think I am," I growled, balling hands into fists.

"You're still hurt," he said, his voice stronger. "That wound hasn't healed and it's not getting any better. I can see how tired you always are, how much of a chore that it is for you to _move_ at all. If you think you could hold your own in battle, then you're kidding yourself. I don't want you taking that risk."

"I can take care of myself, I don't need you to protect me," I disagreed.

"This isn't a request, Tori," he said getting frustrated.

"You can't order me around, Luke," I retorted in the same tone. "I'm not one those monsters or angry demigods on that ship, I am your _girlfriend_."

Luke straightened up, for he'd been leaning down toward me, and blinked. The surprise faded and regret took its place. He took a breath, sighing heavily and closed his eyes for a moment, his hand furling and unfurling into fists. His shoulders slumped slightly and I realized how tired he was. How much all this was taking out of him, how much holding up the sky for however long had taken out of him.

I let out my own soft sigh as I looked around the mountain. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're right," he murmured caressing my face and turning my head so we could look at each other. " _I'm_ sorry." His hand dropped and his eyebrows furrowed. "I'm just—"

"Worried," I finished for him. "I know. I can hold my own, though, you _know_ this; you've seen this."

More frustration and some anger flashed in his eyes and he turned away.

"Do you have a death wish, is that it?" He snapped, spinning around, getting into my face. "Trying to save me again?"

I carefully reach up and took Luke's head into my hands, resting my forehead against his before giving him a quick kiss.

I pulled back slightly so I could look him in the eye and hold his gaze.

"I would _never_ do that to you," I told him solemnly before a wane smile made its way to my lips. "You're stuck with me." I joked. Luke managed how own weak smile and a soft chuckle as he rested his forehead against mine again.

"That's not so bad," he murmured, closing his eyes. I did the same.

"Why won't you let me go?" I asked after a moment of silence, opening my eyes and pulling away.

"Why won't you stay?" he countered.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but the words got caught in my throat.

My nightmares of him as Kronos were getting worse. What worried me more, something I realized, was that I'd been having them long before this plan to convince Thalia to join the Titan's side had begun. So far my dreams had been prophetic (well, okay, that one dream about the monsters invading camp and on the ship, but still), so I was worried that that meant this meeting was doomed to end in failure…and a fight, as Luke had so graciously told me.

I wanted to be there for him when that happened. Not just after to help him cope with the pain of having another friend turn their back, but _there_ , standing next to him, so that he'd know I was with him and he had support if he needed.

But could I tell Luke this? Dash his hopes before the events had even occurred? Worse, still, if my dream was wrong and this did work, then what? What would he think of me then?

I felt something wet slide down my cheek and sucked in a sharp breath when I registered I'd started crying. I tried to turn away as I quickly wiped them from my face, but Luke caught my wrist and kept me facing him. My lower lip shook and I tried to keep the rest of my tears at bay.

"What's gotten you so upset?" Luke asked softly, reaching to catch more of my tears as they fell with his thumb. The hand holding my wrist slid up to hold my hand and he laced our fingers.

I swallowed my sobs and reach up to take his other hand—the one caressing my cheek and wiping away my tears—into mine.

"It's nothing," I managed. "I just…it's just really stressful. I…I-I'm worried about you, too." I blurted. "You've just looked so… _worn_ lately, and I don't want you to get hurt either." It wasn't a complete lie, at least. Still, I felt bad, keeping the truth from him. I just couldn't find it in me to tell him this plan was all in vain.

"I'll be okay," Luke promised. "I'm not at my peak, but I think it's fair to say I could hold my own in a fight better than you could right now. And I don't mean that as an insult, but, Tori, you really shouldn't push yourself right now…"

"Do I really look that bad?"

"You just…you look like your slowly dying—" His voice broke and his eyes tightened. He pulled me closer to him, into his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes.

"I am slowly dying, Luke," I murmured.

"Don't say that," he choked, his arms tightening around me. "Please… _don't_ …say that."

I didn't respond. He was right in a sense that I probably wouldn't be able to fight anyone in the condition I was in. Not without making my wound bleed a lot, at the very least. At the very worst, I'd probably fall in battle due to fatigue or the pain in my side or blood loss. That didn't stop me from wanting to go with him, though. If I _did_ die, at least he wouldn't have to host Kronos anymore.

I let out a heavy sigh.

"I'll stay here," I whispered. It was a total lie, but Luke didn't need to know that. I was going to follow him. He also didn't need to know that.

Luke pulled back, still keeping me in his arms, to look at me. He gazed down at me with scrutinizing eyes. I met his stare evenly and tried not to give anything away. I think he worked because Luke pulled me close to him again and started stroking my hair.

"Thank you," he murmured. I leaned closer to him, closing my eyes. A knot of guilt formed in the pit of my stomach, but I held my tongue. I was starting to question if following him in secret was the right choice, but I really couldn't tell. All of this was giving me a horrible feeling. I trusted my instincts, so _something_ was going to happen. I just wasn't sure…what. What's more is the fact that I wasn't sure if something bad was going to happen to me or Luke, or both of us. _That_ really scared me.

"They have arrived," Atlas's voice called, popping our bubble. "It's time."

Luke pulled away and looked back at me, caressing my face before leaning down to kiss me. I stole a few more kisses as he pulled away and started toward the group of _dracaenae_ , who'd picked up the coffin, and Atlas.

"I'll be back," he said walking backward, winking and giving me a small smile.

"You'd better," I tried to joke, but it was half-hearted.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

With that, Luke spun and followed the group to face his old friend. I counted to thirty before I grabbed my sword and strapped it to my waist and slipped my dagger in its sheath at my ankle. Luke had returned them to me after our meeting. It was nice to have them back on my person. It was comforting, a safety blanket, literally and metaphorically.

Taking a deep breath and glancing down at my side, which was aching just at the prospect of a possible fight, I started toward the exit. My side already hurting was probably another bad omen that I was going to ignore. It wasn't the smartest decision, but again, I couldn't pinpoint the bad feeling I was getting about all of this. Not that bad feelings every really could be pinpointed until the very moment of.

It wasn't until after I headed out did I realize what a horrible plan this was. I'd waited too long to follow them and now I didn't know which way they'd gone. It might've been a good thing, in retrospect, because it was hard to find good hiding spots on a pretty bare mountain and it wasn't like it was a crowded New York street. I couldn't just tail them from a safe distance and hide among the crowd.

However, at the time, it was a pretty poorly thought-out plan. I didn't know where they'd gone, so I didn't know how to get there. How was I supposed to help Luke if I didn't know where to find him?

Still, I looked at the ground to see if they'd left some sort of trail. Maybe those snake woman had left scars across the ground because of the way they walked. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't a tracker, and there were too many marks on the ground around this building for me to be able to distinguish them from others and pick a way to go.

I almost gave up. I almost went back to that large room and sat down on the bench, but I was tired of sitting. I was tired of feeling defeated. I'd managed to haul myself up by my bootstraps and gotten things done thus far, but with my wound it was getting harder and hard to do so. I felt like I couldn't function anymore, I felt pathetic and useless and weak, and I just so sick and tired of it!

I didn't want to give up just because I couldn't find them, though. I wasn't going to let this stop me. Maybe it was a bad idea to search for them, maybe I'd get hopelessly lost, but at least I'd feel like I was _doing_ something. It was a constant battle to get myself to stop wallowing in self-pity and actually do something about it, yet I always managed it. So, I could managed it this time, as well.

With that decided, I started in a direction.

Now, it wasn't a complete guess. I vaguely remembered how to get to Annabeth's cell and figured I'd use that as a better jumping off point. If Annabeth was being used as bait for the group coming to rescue Artemis, then surely they'd go get her from her cell.

For a while, I thought I had gotten myself hopelessly lost and felt my heart sink, but then I saw a familiar Celestial bronze cage tucked away in a corner of the mountain. Annabeth was no longer inside. I didn't go all the way, but looked around to see if this time I could find a path to follow. There couldn't have been a lot of foot traffic to her cage, right? From what I could tell, I'd been her only visitor and the two _dracaenae_ just stood there and kept guard.

Sure enough, looking around, I saw patterns of the snake women's snake legs, dragging through the dirt. Still a bit iffy, but they would have to do. I'd spent long enough trying to find my way back to the cage. Already I was feeling exhausted. My side throbbed painfully. I lifted my shirt a little to take a peak. Some blood was already soaking through the gauze. I was getting worse or the climb had taken more of a toll on me than I realized.

I hoped it was the latter one, but the former seemed reasonable enough, too.

I felt like the wound itself was sapping the strength from me ever so slowly. The sensation of my very being slipping from my body wasn't comforting or comfortable and I suddenly wished Luke was here to hold me, if only for a moment.

I took a short breather before I followed the tracks. As I got closer, I heard the sound of battle. I unsheathed my sword, just in case and crept forward. Keeping my breathing shallow and trying not to think about how shaky it sounded or about how heavy my sword felt in my hand.

I don't know how close I was, but I heard a low, deep voice bellow " _Nooooo! Not again!_ "

I wasn't sure what that was all about, but I risked running forward. My ADHD had kicked in and I was aware that I passed two young girls in silvery clothing. One had darker skin, much like Atlas's, dark hair with a silver circlet weaved in it. She was breathing irregularly and her eyes were fading. The other girl had auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing tattered silvery dress and had cuts on her arms and face. Her eyes shone bright and silver, like the moon. And she was cradling the other girl.

I almost stopped short when I realized who the girl with silver eyes was. Her eyes…like the moon…. If I had a guess, it was Artemis.

However, I'd continued forward—the goddess paying me no mind, too focused on her fallen comrade—before I realized who I'd passed. I'd gone far enough to see what I just missed: a battle, and that preoccupied my mind for the time being.

Atlas was under his old burden again, which explained the screaming. Percy was sitting near Atlas, looking dazed and weak. Annabeth was struggling to get out of what looked like bonds around her wrists, holding her hands behind her back. And Luke…

I froze and my breath caught. He was standing on the edge of the cliff, facing Thalia. Even from here, I could see the tears in Thalia's eyes. Luke looked worse for wear, his face glistening with sweat. He'd incurred some damage, too, a slash across his chest. He lunged for Thalia, but she slammed him with her shield. His sword spun out his hands, clattering to the rocks. Thalia lifted her spear to his throat.

There was a beat of silence.

"Well?" Luke asked, trying to sound angry, but I could hear the fear in his voice, standing so close to the edge. Or maybe it was because his chance at freedom had failed. His faith in an old friend has been proven wrong. I can't say I blame Thalia for doing what was right, but this had been the very thing I didn't want to see happen.

I staggered closer, almost dropping my sword in the process, my hand had gone numb. Annabeth, who'd finally broke free of her binds, ran up, closer to Thalia, but still behind her.

"Don't kill him!" she cried. For once, I had to agree with her.

"He's a traitor," Thalia replied, the hurt and betrayal in her voice clear. "A traitor!" Her grip tightened on her spear. Luke's eyes flickered over the edge of the cliff. I stumbled closer, getting a very bad feeling. None of them seemed to notice I was even there. I wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing, but I wasn't too concerned about it.

"We'll bring Luke back," Annabeth argued. "To Olympus. He…he'll be useful."

"Is that what you want, Thalia?" Luke spat. "To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please your dad?"

Thalia hesitated. I would realize later, just as Luke planned. However, he didn't plan for her to react instinctively when he made a grab for her spear.

I dropped my sword and was running before I'd given my body conscious command to. I developed tunnel vision, everything around me dimming and becoming quiet. All I saw was Luke and Thalia. Time seemed to slow as I watched him desperately grab for her spear. And it was in that small moment did I insert myself. I shoved Luke out of the way, off to the side, just as Thalia kicked. Her intended target had been Luke, purposefully or not, but instead she got me.

Time sped up again as I stumbled back with a grunt. My arms had raised in front of me in an X. For a millisecond I thought I'd be okay and my arms lowered, but the heel of my foot slipped off the edge of the cliff and that was that. Time slowed again, but I thought it was peculiar and amazing how fast I seemed to be falling.

By the time Luke had gathered his bearings, stood up and reached out, offering his hand to me, I was already too far away to grab it. Our fingertips missed by a microscopic amount and I met his stricken eyes before time seemed to go into hyper-speed. One moment I was looking into Luke's beautiful blue eyes, the next blackness engulfed my vision right before I was hit with searing pain throughout my body and then blissful nothingness.

* * *

 In Greek mythology, they buried their dead with coins on their eyes so they could pay the ferryman to take them over the River Styx and to the Underworld.

You'd think being demigods we'd carry around a golden drachma or two with us, just in case. But maybe that was too pessimistic, maybe that meant that we were accepting our early death, so we didn't. Or maybe we never thought we would actually die, even though our life was a thousand times more dangerous because of the fact that we were demigods. Either way, I didn't have anything to pay the ferryman.

I'd accepted this. I'd made peace with the fact that I was probably going die and not have anything to pay with. I didn't know what that meant for me, exactly, but I'd come to accept that fact.

What I wasn't prepared to accept was waking up in the admiralty suite again.

It was dark outside and in. The lights were out, there was no golden sarcophagus to light up the room in golden light. It wasn't as cold as it usually was.

I took a breath in, realized I was alive and instantly sat up.

"No," I murmured, looking around, looking down at my body. My limbs weren't broken, there was no visible damage to my body, when I moved I felt no pain. When I lifted my shirt, even the wound I'd acquired from Kelli had vanished. All the while I repeated "No" over and over again, under my breath, not believing that I'd survived that fall.

I _couldn't_ have.

One of the oak doors opened and Luke stepped in. He looked absolutely beaten, that is, until he saw me. His face brightened and his dull eyes seemed to regain some of their shine. Tears flooded my eyes as I jumped off the bed and started toward him just as he started toward me.

But as soon as I got close enough to him I shoved him back against the doors, hot tears slid down my cheeks and I glared at him.

"You were free!" I yelled, pushing him back again as he tried to come forward. "How could you?" More tears streamed down my cheeks. Luke moved quickly and suddenly I was in his arms. I beat at his chest until he took hold of my wrists and stopped me. I struggled uselessly against him as sobs started bubbling up from my throat.

My struggles and anger died down as I began to cry even more.

"You were free," I sobbed again, stopping my struggle completely and leaning into him, resting my head on his chest. "You didn't have to host Kronos anymore. You were _free_." I started weeping and sunk to the floor. Luke sank with me, pulling me into his lap, keeping one arm around me, his free hand stroking my hair.

"I know," he whispered gently in my ear. "I know; I'm sorry..." His voice broke and he stopped stroking my hair. His grip on me tightened. "I'm sorry." He sounded so broken, his voice like shattered glass. "I'm not strong enough. I'm just… _not_ strong enough."


	23. Take My Hand

I was falling.

The air was cold. It whistled through my ears, blocking out any other sounds. It pierced my skin like a million tiny knives. As the grey sky above me grew vast, like the opposite of the ocean, the ground grew closer and closer.

I jolted awake at the moment of impact, letting out a small yelp. My heart was hammering irregularly against my ribcage. Chest heaving, I looked around the room, trying to see where I was, trying to make out anything tangible in the darkness before warm arms came around me comfortingly. I started again, but the arms held fast, pulling me closer to a warm body.

I looked to my right and up to meet a pair of glowing blue eyes in the darkness. I relaxed almost immediately.

"Luke." My voice broke through the silence in an odd way. Everything seemed to fall into place and I remembered where I was and what had happened. I was tethered to my body, to this earth again, not floating out in space.

He reached up and caressed my face.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly, stroking my cheek with his thumb. We were sitting where we had been when I'd finally stopped sobbing and fallen asleep. Luke was leaning against one of the doors to the admiralty suite with me in his lap.

"Bad dream," I mumbled, averting my gaze and resting my head on his shoulder.

It was quiet for a long time. I listened to Luke's even breathing to calm me down and closed my eyes. He continued to stroke my cheek, keeping his other arm wrapped securely around my waist.

"Did you know?" he asked suddenly, shattering the silence.

"Know what?" I responded in a quiet voice, half-asleep.

"What would happen, back there, on Mount Tam," he clarified. "Is that why you looked so worried before I left?" He stopped stroking my cheek.

I pulled back to look up at him, his hand dropped from my face. He didn't meet my eyes for a long moment, but I continued to stare at him and didn't answer until he finally looked down at me.

"I didn't want to bring you down," I told him truthfully. "I had a guess, just…just dreams, but you were so hopeful that this would prevent you from becoming his host and I didn't want to take that away from you. It didn't seem fair."

Luke thought about this for a long time, keeping his eyes locked with mine as he did.

"Dreams?" he finally asked.

I reached up and gently brushed my fingers under his eyes. "You have golden eyes and a cruel smile. They aren't standard scary demi-god dreams, but…they scare me." I lowered my hand and looked down. "Your smile and the shadow that falls across your face—it reminds me of Kronos, or when Kronos is influencing you." I paused. "They started before you told me about your plan to convince Thalia to join your side, so I was afraid that meant that it was a plan that was doomed to fail."

I looked up at him and spoke quickly, then, "You have to understand, though, Luke, I didn't want to dash your hopes. I wanted to believe just as much as you did that this would work and you wouldn't have to host Kronos. I just…my dreams…"

Luke pulled me back into him as I tried not to start crying again.

"It's okay," he assured. "I understand why. I just wanted to know. I'm not mad at you."

"I'm sorry," I said anyway, pressing myself closer to him, breathing in his comforting scent.

"It's all right," he replied, looking down at me. "Just go back to sleep." He gently ran his thumb under one of my eyes. "You look tired." I reached up to brush my fingertips under one of his eyes again.

"You look tired, too," I commented. Giving me weak smile, Luke pulled his hand away to slip his arm under my legs. Using the door, he stood up with me in his arms bridal style and walked over to the bed. He laid me down and I made room for him to climb up and lay down next to me before I moved closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder again, putting one of my arms around him as he put one of his arms around my waist.

I didn't want to go back to sleep. I was afraid that I'd have another falling dream. I didn't want to relive my death whenever I closed my eyes for obvious reasons. Even so, my body seemed exhausted, even though I'd just woken up from sleep. I fought off the exhaustion as best I could, but listening to Luke's slow, even breathing was only lulling me into sleep.

Finally, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and I gave into the darkness.

* * *

 The Labyrinth.

That was the new thing, now. Now that Kronos's plan to sway Thalia to their side had failed, it was time to move onto the next one, which was the Labyrinth. The very same one that held the Minotaur, the very same one that Thesus had traveled through with the help of a mortal girl named Ariadne.

It always ceased to amaze me how all these Greek legends and myths adapted from their ancient counterparts and became new again, more modern to fit a modern world. Even after all these years of living in what others saw as myth and legend, it was still awesome in a terrifying way.

After his last plan failed, Kronos started giving new instructions about the Labyrinth. Luke needed to find its creator, who was still alive even after all these centuries, to get the string from him so they could make their way to Camp Half-Blood, which had an entrance to the Labyrinth right smack in the middle (so I was told), to launch an attack on them.

It was like a giant game of real-life chess. Kronos had tried to go for the gods' queen right out of the gate. He should've known that's not how chess worked. You had to go after the pawns and take them out, that way he had a better way to the King. And that's just what he was doing, taking out the gods' pawns to cripple them. Besides, pawns were just that, pawns. There was a reason they were associated with low-level people who could be easily disposed. Yet, if they made it to the other side, they could become a Queen. They may be low-level, easily-disposed things, but they could be dangerous if you didn't watch out for them.

Following Kronos's orders, Luke started sending in demigods and monsters and scout ahead in the Labyrinth. Thus far, none had returned.

I'd become Luke's second-in-command, so to speak, much to Kelli's outrage. It was more because he didn't want me to leave his side than anything else, honestly. After I'd died, Luke had become more attached to me, overly afraid that at any moment I might drop dead or be killed. I think he knew they were irrational fears, because Kronos couldn't kill me without losing his most important chess piece, but it still comforted him to be around me, to know that I was safe and I was alive.

Some good that'd come out of this situation, though, was the fact that I got my weapons back and I got to know what was going on. I was no longer treated like a lowly prisoner or another angry demigod on this ship. I was second-in-command, I got to give the orders for once and I didn't have to worry about being locked in a room or treated like a child. Not saying that I liked ordering the destruction of my home, but at this point, I had to roll with the punches.

At this point, I was here for Luke and him only. If that meant I had to sit back and watch as Kronos plotted against my home, then so be it. All I could do was hope that they'd be able to stop it. It sounded terrible, and don't get me wrong, I felt terrible for feeling that way, but Luke was only following Kronos because he wanted to keep me alive.

Which meant this was doubly my fault. But that's not the point. My point is, he had to trick and kidnap his best friend, someone he loved to bait another person he loved, only to have her reject him, harshly. It was taking a toll on him. I could see it. He did his best to hide it, and he did well, but it was leaking through more and more. As the days past and more and more demigods pledged their allegiance to Kronos, the faster Luke's fate of hosting the titan lord came.

Losing his two traveling companions, family members, had hurt him tremendously. Add the stress of leading an army of monsters and demigods, _and_ the fact that he would soon be hosting Kronos, well…that'd drive you mad.

He hadn't hit the point yet, but he was right on the edge, on the precipice. We both were. Toying with death, tempting fate. Both of which were terrible things to do considering they were very _real_ beings in our world.

But it wasn't just Luke I was worried about. Ever since I'd come back from that fall, I'd been angry and scared. One of these emotions was directed at Luke sometimes. The other was mostly directed at myself. Luke only because I was angry that he'd brought me back when he could've let me be and turned away from Kronos, stopped war, stopped even more unnecessary deaths. I was angry at myself because I couldn't be angry at Luke for saving me. It felt good in an odd way that he cared _so much_ about me, he loved me _so much_ , that he'd risk the world to save me. The same I felt about him.

Scared because ever since I'd come back from dying I felt like everything I did was half-hearted. If it was even possible, I felt more like I was dying now than when I had that gaping hole in my side.

I felt like something was missing from me, like another large, gaping hole had formed, only this was right in my chest. It suddenly felt harder to breathe, harder to find the will to do things and I wasn't sure what that was all about, but it was starting to seriously scare me.

I looked up, coming face-to-face with myself in the mirror. I was sitting in the bathroom, currently, gripping a glass filled half-way with water so tightly my knuckles were white. I'd needed to get away from it all for a moment, for ten minutes. I needed space to breathe and regroup, to remind myself what all of this was even for. It scared me that I couldn't remember. I was here for Luke, yes, but what was I doing? Being alive and handing him a one-way ticket to becoming Kronos's host.

I stared at my reflection, not liking what I was seeing. I looked thinner, my eyes were sunken in. There were dark circles under my eyes. I'd kept my hair at its pixie cut, but without the help of the Aphrodite cabin it didn't look great. Honestly, though, it was almost too short to really tell. It wasn't just physically, though. When I looked at myself I saw a monster, if only because I had come here so many months ago to stop this, and now if I wanted to _really_ stop it, I had to die. Yet, I couldn't get myself to that to Luke. I didn't want him to hurt him in that way. It didn't seem fair to him. But it was the world that was on the line…

I blinked and slammed back into my body. And when I realized who the person in the mirror was, sudden rage welled up in my chest.

With a shriek I threw my cup against the mirror. Both shattered on impact and scattered around the floor and in the sink. I came forward, brushing off all the shards on the sinks edge so I could grip them and lean against the sink for support as I stared at the now blank space where the mirror used to be.

Even without the mirror I could feel the tears brim my eyes, threatening to spill over. I gritted my teeth and bowed my head, squeezing my eyes shut trying to keep them at bay. I felt my whole body start to tremble and sobs build up in my throat, but I kept them all back.

I had to be strong. I had to be strong for the both of us. Every single time I looked at Luke, I could see the absolute fear in his eyes. The absolute fear of what was to come. If he saw me breaking too, he'd fall apart and I couldn't let that happen. We both needed to stay strong through this, we weren't allowed to break. There was too much at stake.

* * *

I sat with my feet and my legs just below my knees dipped in the pool, gently swinging back and forth in the water. I leaned back on my hands and looked up at the night sky, at all the stars. I enjoyed the cool ocean breeze on my heated skin.

Suddenly a face appeared in my field of vision. I straightened up and tried to smile. "Hey stranger," I greeted. He returned my smile with a small one of his own.

"Mind if I joint you?" Luke asked.

"Of course not," I responded, patting the space beside me. He sat down and dipped his feet into the water, too. "How are you?" I asked, looking over at him. He was gazing down at the water, but didn't respond. I nudged his shoulder with mine. "Earth to Luke."

"Sorry," Luke said, blinking and looking over at me. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Tell me about it," I muttered, looking down at the water, as well, at the lights in the sides of the pool. A silence settled between us. I went back to looking at the stars, imaging the music of the cosmos. It was comforting. At least I knew I could feel that, feel comfort in such troubling times like these.

Suddenly Luke jumped up from where he was sitting.

"Dance with me," he said, holding out his hand. I followed his arm up to his face and gave him a quizzical look.

"What?" I asked, laughing slightly.

"Dance with me," he repeated, moving his hand closer to me.

I reluctantly took his hand. He pulled me to my feet and into his arms so quickly I squeaked.

"Th-there's no music," I protested.

"Does there have to be?" he replied.

"Well, no, but I mean—"

"Will you sing, then?" he asked suddenly. I blinked.

"What?"

"I don't think I've ever heard you sing before, you know," Luke pointed out.

I tried to object to this, but when I thought about it, the only people who'd heard me sing were my Mom and Dan, obviously, Lee, Chiron (technically speaking) and Tyson (also technically speaking). I suppose Annabeth and Percy counted if they'd been listening while were washing dishes. But Luke had never heard me sing before, oddly enough.

I played my guitar often out on the lake at camp, but I didn't sing, I hummed. Of course, I told Luke I sang occasionally, but had I really never sang for _him_? That seemed kind of impossible—we'd known each other for so long—yet the more and more I thought about it, the more I realized how little I sang in general after my mother's death.

I didn't participate in the sing-alongs at camp because I didn't ever want to, when I wasn't in the Apollo cabin and even when I was. When I wasn't claimed, I just sat with the Hermes cabin and swayed to the corny camp music that was edited to be about Greek mythology and the gods. When I was, I sat off to the side.

"Huh," I finally managed.

"So, will you?" he pressed.

I took a deep breath and leaned in closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder. I closed my eyes and thought about a good slow-dance song. Because my mom liked music from the 1960s, a list of songs from that era ran through my head until I thought I'd found a good one—"Can't Help Falling in Love With You" by Elvis Presley.

I sang it a little slower than the actual song, thinking of my mom's cover of it. It was one of the songs she liked to sing when I requested a capella from her. It had a slow and soothing tempo, perfect for calming after nightmares or falling asleep to on any other night.

We didn't start dancing until I got past the first verse and I wasn't sure if it was because Luke was stunned hearing me sing for the first time or if he just forgot that's what he'd suggested in the first place.

Regardless, it was nice to have this moment with him. Without the weight of being demigod on our shoulders. Without the weight of the fact that we were on a ship housing monsters and angry half-bloods who wanted to watch Olympus burn. Without the fact that we were hosting a titan on board that was slowly reforming and plotting new ways to achieve his goal of bringing the gods down as quick as possible.

Dancing beneath the stars, with the cool, sea breeze was so relaxing. So was singing, surprisingly. For as much as I didn't like singing in front of other people, I liked singing. It was a sort of therapy that really seemed to calm me and help me relax. (Also, Luke wasn't just a person to me anymore. He was my boyfriend, maybe even more than that. I loved him so dearly and so deeply, boyfriend didn't seem to cover it.)

When the song ended, our dance slowed but we continued to sway in a small circle. We stood there for a moment. I continued to rest my head against his shoulder, gazing out across the ocean, at the stars on the horizon as we turned. Suddenly, Luke was spinning me faster, pulling me toward the direction of the pool.

My brain couldn't put two and two together and I asked, "What are you doing?" He only gave me a mischievous smile and a wink in response just as we hit the edge of the pool. "Luke!" I gasped as he fell toward the water with a loud splash, pulling me with him.

He let go of my waist as we went under and I pulled my hand from his and surfaced, looking for him, splashing him as soon as I did.

"You jerk!" I yelled, though I wasn't mad. I could feel the grin on my face. Luke laughed and splashed me back. It turned into a splashing war for a little bit until I ran out of steam and waded over to the shallow end, so I could stand on my feet and not my tip-toes. I was breathing hard, but for the first time in a long time, I finally felt happy. At the very least, I didn't feel like there was a gaping hole in my chest, I didn't feel like I was slowly dying.

Luke had followed me to the shallow end, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me into his chest.

"You have a beautiful voice," he murmured in my ear. I felt a blush creep up my neck and into my cheeks.

I turned to face him, caressing his face with both hands, gazing into his bright blue eyes. They seemed to shimmer and shift in the light of the pool. They were gorgeous and I committed them to memory, so that I could close my eyes and see those shining blue orbs when he no longer had them.

"I love you," I said feverishly.

"I love you, too," he said, tightening his grip on my waist before leaning down to kiss me.


	24. The Road to Ruin

In retrospect, I really should've expected Kronos to do something to get rid of me. I guess because he couldn't kill me, I thought he wouldn't try anything else. But this was Kronos, an evil Titan Lord who'd been alive since basically forever. I should've expected him to try _something_. I think it'd worked out just as he'd planned, though. He'd lulled me into a false sense of a security and then ambushed me when I least expected.

Now, when you're living on a ship full of monsters and have already been attacked multiple times, you get used to keeping up your guard at all times. I could handle hellhounds, even with my irrational fear of them. _Draecenae_ were a piece of cake at this point. _Empousa_ were still fast, but I'd learned a lot from fighting the one that'd attacked my brother and fighting with Kelli countless times how to go about killing them. Other demigods I tried my best to avoid because I didn't feel comfortable hurting my on kind. Not that they were prone to attack me, but I'm just saying.

I was prepared for just about anything. What I wasn't prepared for, however, was something sneaky like a tranquilizer dart. The monsters liked to just attack you directly, head-on. They didn't sneak around. That is unless given the order to.

I was coming back from my alone time and had just turned around a corner when I felt something prick my neck. Instinctively, I stopped walking as my hand flew up to my neck to feel where I'd been pricked. I pulled something out of my skin and had time to look at it and register that it was a dart before my vision swam and my legs turned to Jell-O. I dropped the dart as I crashed into the nearest wall. I tried to stand again, keep my eyes open, but whatever they'd used worked _fast_.

The last thing I saw were human-shaped, dark blobs coming toward me. There were voices too, but they sounded low and the words blended together. Finally the drugs took full effect and my world went dark.

When I woke up again, I wasn't on the ship anymore.

And I'd woken up because of the fact that I was freezing. At first things were blurry and confusing. It wasn't just that I'd woken up from an unexpected deep sleep, but also the fact that around me it was a murky more brown than blue-green color that shifted and shimmered in an odd way.

It took me a moment to realize I was sitting in the passenger seat of a car. I still couldn't figure out why everything around me looked murky. When I moved I met resistance, something cold and metal around my wrists. I looked down to see handcuffs, with the chain around the door, keeping me attached to the door of the car.

Finally, something registered and my mind seemed to snap awake. My ADHD went into overdrive and adrenaline flooded my system, making my heart go wild in my chest. My eyes went to the car floor, to look at my feet that were sitting in water. Water that went up to my ankles and was definitely slowly rising.

It all clicked into place and I realized the situation I was in. I was trapped in a car that was slowly filling with water.

* * *

My mom liked for Dan and I to be prepared. I wasn't sure if it was because we lived in the crazy concrete jungle called New York or if it was because we were demigods, but either way she liked for us to be prepared. She didn't teach us combat or anything—she wanted to keep the fact that we were half-god from us for as long as possible because once we knew our lives would only be more dangerous. No, instead she taught us about the realities of the world and made us watch those What Should You Do shows. There was a lot that I thought were kind of ridiculous. Not because it wasn't informational, but because I could never think of a time that that information would be useful to me.

Now it was all crashing down on me and I was grateful that she'd made me watch and pay attention. I remembered one of the episodes that talked about what you should do if you were sitting in a car that was sinking in some kind of body of water.

The very first thing: stay calm.

Hard thing to do considering the fact that I didn't exactly have a way out. I was chained to the door. Even if I managed to get the door open, I wouldn't be able to swim to the surface.

The second step: unbuckle my seatbelt.

I looked down to see if they'd buckled me in. Nope, so good on that.

Third step: if I didn't have anything to break the window, wait until the car was fully flooded with water. That way when I went to open the door, the water pressure would be equal inside and out and water wouldn't come rushing in, pushing me deeper into the car.

Well, I didn't exactly have a choice in that matter. I did look around, though, to see if there was anything I could use to break the chain of my handcuffs. If I craned my neck and pulled my cuffs to their limit I thought I could see my sword and dagger, both in their sheaths, and even a bow and quiver of arrows on the floor in the backseat. They were all tied to what looked to be large rocks. I thought this was odd, but right now, the oddness of them leaving me with my weapons was the least of my concerns.

I couldn't reach them, unfortunately. They were much too far. I couldn't twist my body like a contortionist, so I was left with the last option. Try and break off the handle of the door or slip out of my cuffs. Either seemed not very likely to work, but I had to try _something_. I didn't come this far to die.

I didn't come this far to abandon Luke like this.

My mind seemed to freeze when I thought of him, even though I needed to get a move on if I was going to have any slim chance of surviving this. The water was half-way up my legs now.

But Luke…what was happening on the ship right now? Was he looking for me? If he asked Kelli, or anyone on the ship for that matter, what would they tell him?

My blood ran cold, like the water had somehow found its way underneath my skin and into my veins. I felt a shiver run down my spine and thought I could hear cold laughter coming from my inside my mind, distant but definitely there.

If I had this right, they'd made it looked like I'd abandoned Luke, just like his father. That's why I had all my weapons with me. I wouldn't leave without my weapons and Kronos knew that. Now he had a way to kill me and keep Luke working for him. And with a car at the bottom of wherever I was, no one would find me. No one would find my body. At the very least if they ever retrieved my body it'd be too late by then. It wouldn't matter. I'd be dead.

Despite the first step of my situation, I felt the panic start to creep in. My heart beat wildly in my chest and I started pulling at the restraints. I lifted my legs out of the water that had now risen to the top of the seat and pushed them against the door, grabbing the chain of my handcuffs and pulling them away from the door.

I felt tears prick my eyes and a scream well up in my throat, but I held them back and kept yanking and pulling, twisting my wrists (which only cut them up), trying to get free. I grit my teeth so hard, my jaw ached. My wrists stung and my muscles yearned for a break, but I pushed them past beyond their limit. Still, nothing moved. I couldn't slip out of my cuffs and the door didn't even seem too effected in the slightest.

I tried, then, twisting my body to see if I could somehow reach my sword or dagger with my feet, but no such luck.

The water had risen to my torso by this point and I was really starting to panic. Not only was I not making any progress with these cuffs, but the water was _freezing_. It became harder to breath and I started shivering.

I thought maybe my weapons would float and I could try and reach them but then realized what the rocks were for.

I was running out of time, my life slowly ticking away. I'd take falling off that cliff a thousand times over this. A slow death that was going to end in burning pain in my lungs. Or maybe I'd die from hypothermia.

I just kept pulling, seeing as that's all I could do. Tears slid down my cheeks and all I could think about was getting back to Luke, how lost he must feel, how worried or lonely…or angry at me for abandoning him. Only, I hadn't. But he'd never know that.

I kept pulling as the water hit my chin. I tried to take deep breaths (which was hard, considering how cold I was becoming), preparing myself for when there was no more oxygen left.

Three inches from the top of the car. I had to pull at my cuffs and stand on the seat to get my nose and mouth above water.

Two inches. I tugged uselessly one more time before going back up for air.

One inch. I let myself breathe for a moment more before sucking in the largest breath I could, my last breath.

It was hard to see through the murkiness of the water, but I pressed my feet back up against door and pulled. It was all in vain. I'd used up all my energy and not having fresh oxygen was only making my muscles cramp. The coldness was also starting to make my body lock up. I didn't want to move. I wasn't going to allow myself to breath, though. As much as my lungs burned, my head swam, my muscles cramped, I wasn't going to let my breath go.

Still, I could feel myself slipping. My pulls and tugs became weaker and weaker. My brain was working on some kind of low-level autopilot, continuously pulling even though it was doing nothing now. Through my haze I still refused to let the air go and breathe in the water.

I wanted to be unconscious if I was going to drown. I didn't want to have to feel any pain.

It happened so quickly and my mind was so far gone I'm not quite the exact events that took place, but suddenly the window broke, the shards floating around me in the water. Someone's hand reached in and pulled the chain of my cuffs away from the door before a glowing Celestial bronze sword was carefully slipped underneath the chain. With a small pull the sword easily sliced through the chain.

The hand then grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the open window. I couldn't hold my breath any longer and let it out in a stream of bubbles. I instinctively sucked in another breath and my lungs burned from the water. I coughed, which only made me suck in more water, only suddenly I'm breathing air again. I'm pretty sure I'm still underwater but somehow I'm breathing.

With air circulating through my lungs and body, I cough and retch until the water is expelled from my lungs before promptly passing out.

* * *

This time, I was expecting to wake up wherever I went to go to the Underworld. I was more than prepared to be denied access because I couldn't pay the ferryman. I wasn't prepared for the anguish I'd feel for dying with Luke thinking I'd abandoned him, but it was something that I was just going to have to deal with, because I was dead now. I only hoped that someone had somehow stopped Kronos from taking the gods down and taking over the world.

I only hoped, if Luke died, he hadn't been alone.

Another thing I wasn't prepared for was waking up in a bedroom, lying on a bed under the covers and a very warm comforter that smelled like sweets and baked goods.

I vaguely remembered what happened before all of this, the car, the water, Luke…. And someone else. Someone had save me. But who was the biggest question. Who _knew_ I was there? Who had a Celestial bronze sword? Would could help me breathe underwater. Who could breathe underwater in the first place? That was the biggest question of them all.

I laid there, staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling, not sure how I felt about cheating death for the third time. My arms were out, over the comforter, resting by my sides so I played with the fabric, pinching and rubbing it between my fingers, listing to my staggered, ragged breathing.

The door creaked open and I shot up, looking to see who was coming in. To see who had saved me.

I'd seen a lot of amazing, fantastic, awesome things being a demigod and all, but what I saw before me at this moment was probably the most incredible of them all. They answered all of my questions, save one.

His eyes met mine when he'd finally opened the door wide enough to look into the room. They were the color of the sea I'd been at for so long, the color of a sea I'd come to learn so well.

When he saw that I was up, he pulled out of the doorway, turned his head to his left, and yelled, "Hey, mom, Sleeping Beauty's awake!"

I blinked and looked around the room for the first time as I heard footsteps coming down what I assumed was the hallway. The bed I was currently lying in was in the corner of the room. There were a couple of windows on the wall I was facing and next to the bed was a small nightstand with a lamp and a picture of a younger Percy.

Across from the bed, parallel to it was a desk, another lamp, and art supplies.

I looked back at the door just as Percy stepped back and a woman came forward, stepping through the door. She had long brown hair that was currently pulled back in a ponytail. Her eyes were a beautiful blue that shined and shimmered in the light. She had a gentle smile on her face. She looked relieved, like she cared that I was awake and okay, even though I was a complete stranger to her.

"Oh, it's so good to see you awake," she said, coming up to the edge of the bed. I looked up at her in wonder and confusion. I wasn't quite sure what was going on anymore. "You wouldn't believe how worried I was when I first saw you. You were soaking wet and as cold as ice. Your wrists were all cut up." I looked down at my wrists, thinking they'd be bandaged, but I should've known better. No bandages, not even a sign that they'd been injured. I looked back up at the woman.

"Percy helped with that," she explained. "Said there was no need to take you the hospital. Used the food of the gods, ambrosia. Healed you right up." I continued to look up at her feeling dazed and slightly overwhelmed and maybe a little embarrassed that I'd been unconscious while Percy had fed me ambrosia.

The woman suddenly laughed softly, "Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't even introduced myself." She held out her hand. "I'm Percy's mom, Sally Jackson." I carefully took her hand. She had a firm, warm grip.

"Nice to meet you," I managed to get out in a small voice.

"Well, you must be hungry," Sally said, stepping back. "I'll go make something for you. It's good to see you awake, dear." She smiled and I tried to smile back before she left, leaving Percy standing in the doorway again, staring at me with surprisingly penetrating green eyes.

He glanced down the hall before stepping inside and closing the door quietly, not saying a word. He kept his eyes on me all the while.

It was always so frustrating to know that I was six years older than him, yet at times, I felt _younger_ when I was around him. I wasn't sure if it was because he was the son of a powerful god, or if it was because he was just an old soul, in some ways—in others…not so much—but either way, it was the most agitating thing.

"You saved my life," I finally said.

"Don't sound so surprised," he responded, looking offended I'd even dare sound surprised he'd saved me.

"Why?" I asked, ignoring him.

He blinked and became the twelve (technically fourteen, now) year old I'd come to know. He leaned against the door, like the question had physically weighed him down. Finally, he said, "Repaying the favor." I couldn't get a read on his tone of voice.

"I guess we're even now," I said, a small smile tugging at the edge of my lips.

"I guess we are."

Percy stepped away from the door and walked a few paces into the room.

"You're supposed to be dead," he said.

I looked down at the hands in my lap, thinking about the predicament I'd been thrust into. "I know." I looked back up at him. "Do you think I'm a bad person, Percy?" I asked.

"I don't know, you tell me." His eyes had changed again.

I looked down momentarily before looking back at Percy. "It's a long story." I didn't want to tell him that I was the cause of this. That Luke was doing everything because he loved me too much. I wasn't sure why, but it just didn't seem fair to anyone if I did. And it wasn't that I was afraid of Percy—or anyone for that matter—being angry at me for letting this go on, for letting this go as far as it had. But honestly, what was telling anyone supposed to do? It wasn't like they were going to stop trying to defeat Kronos and save the world. All it would do was probably make them feel guiltier for fighting against him, if that.

Percy opened his mouth to say something, but his mother's muffled voice interrupted him. Giving me one last look, he exited, closing the door behind him. I threw the covers off of me and slid off the bed, going over to the window. What I saw _really_ confused me. It looked like the streets of New York. But, that had to be…impossible.

The door opened again and I turned to Percy. He was saying something, but I went up to him, interrupting him.

"You live in New York?" I asked, grabbing shoulders. He shifted uncomfortably and I quickly dropped my hands, but kept my gaze on him, waiting for him to answer me.

"Um…yes," he finally said, looking at me warily and puzzled. "Why?"

I turned away from him, ignoring his question, and back to the window, resisting the urge to hit something or punch through the window. That didn't seem right. How had I gotten across the country so quickly? Assuming they hadn't drugged me multiple times, they'd managed to travel across the U.S. in the time it took for the drug to run its course in my system. It couldn't have been _that_ long, so how had they managed that?

I suppose, living in a world where magic existed, it _was_ possible. The question was, how was I going to get back to the ship? I had to find Luke and make sure he knew that I hadn't abandoned him. Another problem, I was supposed to have died. I had a feeling if I showed up back on the ship and I couldn't find Luke immediately, I wouldn't get a warm welcome.

"Is something wrong?" Percy asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

I turned around again. "The ship's docked in San Francisco and I need to get back there." I told him, not filtering anything. I might as well tell him the truth, about this at least. Maybe, just maybe, he'd help me. That was the longest of shots, but with Percy there was a slim chance.

"You want to go _back_?" he asked incredulously. I also noticed his hand went to his pocket. Remembering that his sword could turn into a pen, I assumed that's what he was going for, as if he suddenly didn't trust me. Which, to be fair, he had reason to.

"I can't just… _abandon_ Luke," I said. "Look, I know what he's doing is wrong, but if he thinks that I abandoned him, he'll become even more bitter and angry than before. It's not going to help the situation." It wasn't a total lie. I still felt bad about it. I should've just told him the truth, but I still felt like it wasn't going to do much for any of us. If Annabeth found out and Percy still had me, I've no doubt she'd get me to Olympus somehow and have the gods kill me. The problem with that is if Luke found out that's how I died, and not by Kronos, that'd only push Luke further in Kronos's direction.

If that was going to work, I had to die because of Kronos. I mean, maybe we'd be able to get one of the monsters on the ship to kill me, but for one, I really wasn't too keen on dying. I'd experienced it almost two times and once already, I was good. For two, having lived with them for months now, I knew just how careful they were to not harm me in any way, because the wrath of Kronos scared them more than me, for obvious reasons.

"They tried to kill you," Percy pointed out.

I scoffed. "I noticed," I commented sarcastically.

"And you want to just…go back?" he questioned. His hand still hadn't left his pocket.

"It's more complicated than that," I said.

"Then un-complicate it for me." His hand finally left his pocket, but I could tell he was getting as worked up as I was.

"Believe me, I wish I could, but if I told you why, you still wouldn't understand." Maybe that's partly why I was holding back. No one could possibly understand the impasse I was at unless they either had experienced it or could empathize really well.

"How do you even know I wouldn't?"

"Because you don't love someone as much as I love Luke," I responded. I couldn't exactly read Percy's facial expression. He looked shocked, but also…offended? Like, I'd insulted him, like he _did_ love someone the way I loved Luke. Which did make me wonder… "Look, I really need to get back to the ship. I'm sorry I told you. I shouldn't have said anything. Thanks for saving me. We're even now."

I started to head to the door, stepping past him, but he grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"You need to eat something," he said quietly.

"Percy…"

"If not for my sake, then for my mom's. She's going to worry about you if you don't eat something before you leave."

"You didn't tell her about what's going on? My…situation?" I was surprised, honestly. I felt like if he was going to bring someone potentially dangerous into his house, he'd tell his mom.

"That would just make things too complicated," he said before glaring at me. "You'd know about that, wouldn't you?"

I rolled my eyes and pulled my arm out of his grasp. "Fine, I'll eat something."

"Also, my mom doesn't like me using weapons in the house, but her safety comes before anything else." With that said, he slipped past me and started down the hall. I followed slowly, his concern for his mother touching. I suppose I should've felt, on some level, insulted that he'd think I'd ever try anything—I wasn't a bad person—but I didn't, because it hurt, in a good way, to see that he had such a good relationship with him mom, that he loved her so much.

It made me miss my mom.

Their kitchen was small, kind of like the one I'd had growing up, before I'd gone to live at Camp Half-Blood. The air was filled with the sweet smell of pancakes and warm syrup. Percy sat down at the counter and I took a hesitant seat a seat away from him, just to keep my distance.

Percy's mom smiled at him when he came in. Her eyes went to me briefly and I tried to force a small smile in return.

"I was wondering where you two were," she said, turning back to the stove. "I was just about to come get you myself."

"Sorry," Percy apologized. "We were just chatting about a few things." His eyes slid over to me.

Ms. Jackson (I didn't feel comfortable calling her Sally) turned with two plates full of pancakes. I had to do a double take because they were blue.

"I know it's probably not the best thing to eat after a near death experience, but they're quick and easy to make. I hope you like them." she said, setting a plate down in front of me and then Percy before turning to grab the syrup.

I continued to stare down at them. I couldn't wrap my head around the blue color. It just wasn't natural.

Ms. Jackson laughed, startling me. I quickly looked up at her.

"I should probably explain," she said. "Percy likes blue foods, so I dye a lot of the things I cook blue. It's just become habit. I hope you don't mind."

I mumbled something that was basically "no, I didn't mind" before picking up my fork and carefully cutting a chunck off. As soon as the fluffy sweetness hit my tongue, I realized how hungry I was. I had two helpings of three, pretty big pancakes before I felt full. When I was done, I thanked her graciously, asked her if she needed help with the dishes (to which she declined) and then left. Well, tried to leave. But since it was the middle of winter, Ms. Jackson insisted I take one of her "I never really liked it anyway" coats. I couldn't say no. After donning it, I exited, with Percy following me out.

He'd grabbed a few things before following me out and it wasn't until we were both standing outside, next to the foot traffic did I realize that they were my weapons. My sword and dagger and even the bow and quiver of arrows that'd been left in the car.

I quickly took them from him and strapped the sword around my waist, the dagger around my ankle, slinging the quiver and bow over my shoulder. It felt good to have weapons on my person again. They'd become a safety blanket of sorts to me these past few months, so to speak.

"How did you know they were there?" I asked.

"I saw them when I was…getting you," he said.

"How did you know _I_ was there?"

"I didn't," he answered. "Not really anyway. I was coming back from school, but there was some big commotion—someone drove a car off the street and right into the East River. I wouldn't have thought anything of it if I hadn't seen the monsters also gathered in the crowd. I thought I'd check it out and found…you." He blinked and his dark eyebrows furrowed. "Why do they seem so keen on killing you?"

I gripped the strap of my quiver of arrows, glad that I'd taken a coat now. "Like I said, long, complicated story." I muttered.

"How are you going to get back?" he queried. I was glad he'd dropped the subject. I was also grateful he wasn't going to try and stop me from going back.

I looked around at the bundled up New Yorkers. "I don't know," I admitted. "Maybe I'll go to camp and take a pegasus." Percy looked like he wanted to object. "I'm not going to keep it on the ship." I assured him. He still looked skeptical, but his face suddenly cleared.

"I have a better idea," he said. "Follow me." He strode past me and toward an alley. I followed him, though I found this just a tad bit odd. The alleyway was empty and we walked to the middle of it before Percy stopped. Then, he whistled, like he was hailing a cab. I was even more confused, but he looked pretty sure about what he was doing, so I waited.

After a few moments, over the noise of the foot traffic and the cars passing by both ends of the alley, I thought I could hear the beat of wings. I looked up and saw a black blob coming down toward us. My breath caught and I looked back down at Percy. He was smiling, but looking up at the black blob. I looked back up and soon it took the shape of a white pegasus.

Even though it was a bit tight, the pegasus landed gracefully and trotted up to Percy, who petted its nose and said hello. I stayed where I was, stunned that Percy was doing this for me. I mean, I'd hoped he'd help me in some way, but I never expected him to call a pegasus for me. I didn't think we knew each other _that_ well, let alone were even friends. We had an odd relationship. I mean, I loved his enemy, I was his enemy's girlfriend.

After greeting his pegasus and, I had a strong feeling, having a conversation with him, Percy turned back toward me and they walked closer to me together.

"Porkpie, this is Tori," he introduced. "Tori, this is Porkpie." Porkpie nodded, which I think was a greeting to me.

"Hello," I managed. Percy turned to Porkpie and communicated with him silently, I assumed, because suddenly Porkpie huffed and shook his head and mane. Percy turned back to me, looking at me with hard green eyes. "I know, but Tori swears on the River Styx that she won't let anything happen to you, right?" He gave me a pointed look.

My eyes flickered from him to Porkpie. It was so odd, almost scary how Percy delivered threats. It reminded me of the ocean in a way. Percy seemed scarily calm about all this, relaxed and easy-going, but his eyes and the tone of his voice said differently. They contained a power that you'd miss if you weren't paying attention. The ocean was like that, with its calming waves and rocking, but there was unimaginable power it could unleash just below the surface.

"I swear," I started, looking at the pegasus. "I swear on the River Styx I won't let anything happen to you, Porkpie." Thunder rumbled in the distance and a chill went down my spine. I turned my gaze to Percy. "Why are you doing this?"

"You could call it a test of sorts," Percy answered with a shrug, his eyes straying to Porkpie.

"A test?" I repeated.

Percy's eyes snapped back to me and his green eyes flashed. "You asked me if I thought you were a good person. I know _you_ think you are. Prove it."

There it was again, making me feel like I was the fourteen year old and he was the twenty year old. It was frustrating and infuriating, but it wasn't like I could do much about it.

I straightened up, squaring my shoulders, and met his gaze evenly.

"All right," I told him, walking toward Porkpie. "I will." I readjusted my quiver so that the strap was across my chest and had less chance of slipping off my shoulder before I mounted the pegasus. I looked down at Percy who was looking a little unsure at this point. "I gave you my word, nothing will happen to Porkpie." The uncertainty disappeared and his jaw tightened before he gave me a nod and stepped back. I kept his gaze. "Thank you," I said.

"Just…don't make me regret this decision," he responded the uncertainty reappearing.

"You won't." I promised before facing front and spurring Porkpie.

I was once again glad that Ms. Jackson had convinced me to take her coat, because it was freezing. I mean, it's to be expected in the middle of winter, but still. I wasn't expecting my hands to go numb from the cold.

The total trip took four days in total. Four agonizing days. But I didn't want to run Porkpie into the ground and I wanted to make sure that he made it back to Percy safely. I'd also sworn on the River Styx, I'd given my word. It was also for me. I needed sleep and time for my hands to gain feeling and warmth back.

The first three were spent getting across the country and looking for places that would be good and safe for rest (namely places where there was food and shelter for both me and Porkpie). Surprisingly we didn't encounter as many monsters as I thought we would, but maybe they were all too busy with Kronos's rising to really be able to wander, looking for demigods to kill. I easily dusted any we did encounter with my sword. I was saving my arrows, I had a feeling I was going to need them when I made it to San Francisco.

On the fourth day, about midday, we cleared some clouds and the Golden Gate Bridge appeared through the fog. If I looked left I could see the white dot that was the _Princess Andromeda_ docked in Pier 35. I always wondered where and how Luke had gotten the ship, but thought better than to ask him. I didn't think I wanted to know.

As we were coming in closer, I would realize later, I'd made a stupid mistake. It had been a long trip, I was tired and wasn't thinking. Thankfully, nothing too bad happened, but it could've been disastrous had I not been paying attention.

In my partially sleep-deprived daze, I headed toward the ship, knowing they wouldn't let me land. I was planning on landing near the pier and fighting my way back onto it if need be. However, I hadn't considered that they'd be keeping sentries out on at least the very top deck to watch for pegasi maybe, or incoming aerial attacks.

Anyway, we were heading toward the ship when I spotted something blinking in the sunlight coming toward us. When I realized what it was, I unslung my bow from my shoulder, notched an arrow and shot at the other arrow aimed directly at Porkpie, knocking it out of the sky. Porkpie whinnied.

"Go north," I directed him, who immediately responded, as I knocked another arrow and shot another one of their arrows out of the sky. "We'll have to circle back."

We went past the Golden Gate and then made the pegsus equivalent to a U-turn and flew down on the opposite side of the stretch of land. We landed in the middle of a park, where you could see the Golden Gate from. No one seemed to really notice our landing, so I figured the Mist must've been working overtime. But also, it was winter, so it was cold (definitely not as cold as New York), so there wasn't really anyone here anyway.

I figured that's as close as I was going to get to the ship. I didn't blame Porkpie. We'd just been shot at.

I slipped off the pegasus before pulling a few apples I'd stolen from one of our stops out of a small knapsack I'd also stolen from one our stops (you learn things when you live with the Hermes cabin for six years _and_ have a boyfriend who is the son of Hermes) and fed them to Porkpie.

"Thank you," I told him. "You'll be okay if I just leave you here?" He huffed and turned his head to give me a look. If pegasi could say, "Uh, duh," that's what Porkpie would be saying. "Thank you, again." I fed the last apple to him before patting his neck and turning to find out where I was and how I could get to Pier 35.

I found out from one of the park-goers (who had braved the weather to walk their dog) I was at Great Meadows Park and that Pier 35 was several block east from the park. Not feeling comfortable enough to hitch a ride, I walked it. As exhausted and cold as I was, I wasn't going to waste another day when I was so close.

When I finally crossed the last big street, I found a good spot to take a breather, drink some water and watch the ship, more like to scout it. I wanted to see if there were any guards around it or out on the other decks. From where I stood, it looked like my best chance was up a set-in ladder on the side of the bow of the ship. From there, I was golden (no pun intended) because I knew the ship like the back of my hand, having been on it for so long.

With that settled I packed up my things and started over to the ship.

I met no resistance on my way there. I did have to take a quick swim in the harbor because I couldn't reach the ladder from the pier. The water was freezing. I tried to keep my teeth from chattering as I pulled myself up and started to climb. I'd taken off the coat because it was only going to weight me down if it got wet. About half-way up I met resistance. I heard someone shout and looked up just in time to see another demigod throw a spear down at me. Thankfully, they had terrible aim. I pressed myself closer to the ladder and it whistled past me, making a _sploosh_ sound as it hit the water.

I couldn't continue to climb like this, though. I had to think fast before they decided to attack me again or call for help. Looking down I saw the strap of my sheath. Trying to keep on the rungs, I tied that strap around one of the rungs to hold me in place so I could unsling my bow and lean back to shoot.

I aimed an arrow up at the demigod, aiming for the shoulder. I would've aimed lower to keep them from walking, but as it was, the railing was in the way. He fell back with a pained grunt. I quickly untied myself and continued up the ladder. I met no more resistance until I swung myself over the rail.

I shouldered my bow and unsheathed my sword. From there, it was a blur of fighting and slashing and stabbing. When I encountered other demigods, there was a lot of knocking out involved. But it felt like the whole ship was against me getting back to Luke, which only made me fight harder. I hadn't come this far to be killed. I hadn't gone through all of this to have Luke think I'd betrayed him. I didn't even know where this extra energy and fight had come from, but I didn't question it.

By the time I got the admiralty suite and threw the doors open, a trail of unconscious demigods, dust, and piles of empty armor had been left in my wake. I closed the doors behind me and turned to face the room again.

Breathing heavily I looked around the suite, expecting _someone_. What I got was an completely empty room. There was still the luxury furniture, but Luke wasn't there. Neither was the golden coffin, but that hadn't been there for a few months now. It was up on Mount Tam. As the days passed, the palace made of black rock slowly reformed. As the days passed, the time for Luke to host Kronos came closer and closer, like a bomb ticking down.

I guess I'd been so shocked by coming to find an empty room—it felt very anti-climactic after what I'd just been through—that I didn't realize there was a monster behind me until it was nearly too late. The small click of the door closing yet again gave it away. I didn't know if alerting me was on purpose, or what, but even then, as I blocked her sword, I was unprepared. I stumbled back, further into the suite, a bit disoriented as she advanced.

The she-demon took advantage of my slightly dazed state and pushed me back, not allowing me to go on the offense. I had to keep stepping back until my legs hit the coffee table. Instead of stabbing me, she kicked me and I went sprawling, slamming into the coffee table so hard it broke under my weight. My sword slipped from my hand when I hit the ground and went to lean up against the sofa, the hilt touching the floor. It wasn't so far that I couldn't reach it if I stretched, but the _empousa_ was looming over me. Before I could lean over to grab it, a sword was at my throat.

The _empousa_ stood over me triumphantly, smirking, her glowing red eyes blazing with smugness. She got down on her knees, straddling so she could hold the sword's edge to my throat, right under my chin. We were almost touching noses. It wasn't Kelli, but I hated her just as much. I glanced over at my sword through the corners of my eyes. So close….

"Don't even think about it," the _empousa_ growled, pushing the edge deeper into my throat. "You fought a good battle here, but it's too late. When Luke comes back and sees you, he's going to be so mad he'll want to kill you himself." I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "You _abandoned_ him." she continued. "You left him all _alone_."

That made me angry. I hadn't done anything, it had all been Kronos, trying to get rid of me yet again, just in a very different way than I expected. I kept my anger in check, though, because there was a blade to my throat. One wrong move and I'd die, for good this time, I'm sure.

"You underestimate me," I told her in a calm, quiet voice, trying to hide everything else I was feeling, which included fear, too. Kronos had done a good job of making it look like I'd abandoned Luke. I had no doubt Kelli had fun telling Luke the news. It didn't help that she probably used her charmspeak to convince him of this.

"I don't think you quite understand the position you're in, half-blood," the _empousa_ spat. "I have the upper hand." To prove this point, she dug the blade deeper into my neck. I couldn't swallow without feeling it scrape my throat.

Still, I managed a smile. "Oh, well, come on, then," I goaded. "If you want to kill the most important piece to your victory, then by all means, try it."

The she-demon narrowed her eyes at me before pulling back and standing up.

She held her sword out, letting the tip hover over my chest. I met her gaze evenly, very aware that if I stretched my arm out just a tiny bit more I could reach my sword. Of course, I couldn't exactly do that without being impaled and because I'd felt what that was like, I wasn't too keen on doing it again. I was waiting for her to make the first move.

"You lose," she snarled jabbing her sword down at me. My left hand flew up and grabbed the sword mid-stab. I felt the pain as it sliced through my skin easily, but I held onto the sword and kept it away from my chest. Blood started pouring from my cuts and down the sword's blade, but I simply looked up at the stunned _empousa_ who started trying to pull the sword back, which was making my wounds worse, but I ignored the pain.

"I told you," I started, wrapping my fingers around my swords hilt and swinging it toward her, slicing her in half. The doors burst open once again, banging against the walls. I paid this no mind. "Don't underestimate me," I finished as the _empousa_ burst into sulfurous dust. I let her sword fall to the floor beside me and dropped my own sword, breathing hard. My hand was still gushing blood and throbbed painfully. Not my best choice, but I'd been out of good options.

"Tori," someone said. I jolted, remembering someone had entered the suite, and lowered my gaze to see who had come in. Standing in the middle of the entrance was Luke, looking ready for battle, his eyes alert, darting around the room and his hand gripping a sword. _A_ sword, not _his_ sword. The metal was definitely completely Celestial bronze. I found this strange, but had more important things to address with him first.

I grabbed my sword again and quickly stood up to face him. He regarded me warily, shifting from foot to foot, twisting his sword in his hand, and I could see the hurt and anger he was trying to hide. His jaw was taught. His hand was gripping his hilt so hard, his knuckles were white. My heart dropped and all the fight rushed out of me. They'd done a good job of convincing him.

I threw my sword to the side of me and looked back at Luke, meeting his eyes.

"Before you do anything, I want you to know that I would _never_ abandon you. I am _not_ like your father, Luke." I paused and let that sink in. "So, who are you going to believe: me or him?" I made a small gesture with my head, indicating the empty dais behind me, so that he knew I was talking about Kronos.

It was a long time before he did anything. And in that time, I watched him take everything in, the empty armor and unconscious demigods behind him. Then he faced me again, and his eye lingered, on me, on my still bleeding hand, dripping blood onto the expensive carpet. Without a word, he rushed forward. His sword still in hand, and it was so fast I tensed, thinking that he was siding with Kronos and was going to stab me, kill me himself like the _empousa_ had said, but he didn't. Instead, Luke dropped the point of his sword to the floor and put his free arm around my shoulders, pulling me into him.

I let out a relieved sob and wrapped both arms around him, gripping the back of his shirt with both my hands. I still felt freezing (despite my workout) from taking a dip in the harbor, and the warmth from his body and his familiar smell was comforting.


	25. Darling, Stand by Me

I stared down at my hand as I watched the cuts close up and the bleeding stop. I flexed my fingers and turned my hand over. No more pain, no sign that I'd even been injured. It always seemed to amaze me what the food of the gods could do for their children.

I looked up and behind me, through the mirror, as Luke stepped into the bathroom I was currently standing in. My eyes flickered to my own reflection and I tried not to flinch, quickly looking back down at my hand. I turned the tap on and started rinsing the blood off of my hand as Luke came up behind me and put his arms around my waist. He had a fresh shirt on, one not covered in blood.

"You okay?" he murmured in my ear. I tried not to look at my reflection and instead looked at him through the mirror.

"Are you?" I asked, meeting his eyes. I slowly turned off the water and attempted to dry my hands on my still damp jeans before turning to face him, not wanting to see the mirror anymore, afraid I'd break it. I couldn't let Luke see how much I was falling apart. I had to be whole for him.

Luke's blond eyebrows furrowed. "Are you angry at me?"

"I mean…if I'm being honest, I'm a little upset," I told him. "Not angry, just upset. But it's not like you can't help what you feel about people abandoning you. And I'm more upset at Kronos than I am at you because he's the one who concocted that whole setup." I reached up to gently brush his bangs from his forehead. "I wish…I just wish you could let me go sometimes. You wouldn't have to do this anymore. You'd be a hero, Luke. You'd save the world."

Luke's eyes tightened and his arms pulled me closer to him, despite my still damp state.

"The world means nothing to me without you," he whispered.

I gave him a sad smile. To that I couldn't argue because I knew how he felt. I didn't want to be in a world without him. Not after everything we'd been through. Not after I found out how much I loved him.

I didn't exactly know what to say to that, so instead I stood up on my tip-toes and kissed him.

After everything, the almost drowning, the traveling for four days on a pegasus and stealing food during our stops, I had wanted a break. I had wanted to just be able to sleep in a bed with blankets and pillows and know that when I woke up or got hungry, I would be able to get food. I should've known that I wouldn't get my wish. I was a demigod after all.

It was the next day, I was pushing my eggs around on my plate, sitting at the table in the corner in the admiralty suite. Now that Mount Tam was becoming Mount Orthrys again, the ship was nearly empty. The monsters and demigods usually were up on the mountain preparing for the coming war.

Luke sat down next to me and took my hand into his. I looked over at him briefly, forcing a small smile before turning back to my sad eggs. I wasn't feeling very hungry.

"I know that you might not be up for it, and I hate to ask this of you so soon after all that's happened, but…" His grip tightened on my hand and he paused. I looked over at him, but he was looking down at the table. "But I really want you to be with me while I—" He broke off. His eyebrows were mashed together and it looked like he was struggling to say the words.

"While you…" I prompted gently, setting down my fork and turning more toward him. He finally looked up at me and I could see how scared this was making him. I instantly moved closer to him, reaching up to caress his face, stroke his cheek with my thumb. "It's okay, I'm right here. You can tell me."

His grip on my hand tightened even more.

He swallowed hard before reaching up and pulling my hand away from his face, but keeping it in his grasp.

"You know that Kronos is a titan," he began carefully, looking away.

"Yes," I answered, waiting as patiently as I could. This was hard for him, I needed to give him the time he needed.

"And you also know that I have to…" His voice faltered and he looked down at our entwined hands.

"Yes," I said again, in a soft voice.

He took a deep breath and finally looked up at me. "The only way I'll be able to physically do that is to take on the Curse of Achilles. And to do that, I need…my mother's blessing." I waited even though a thousand questions ran through my head. I gritted my teeth and kept them at bay. "All of it would just be easier if I had you with me. Will you come with me?"

In truth? I wanted to say no. I didn't want to watch him prepare his body for Kronos. At the same time, he was so _scared_. I couldn't let him do this by himself. He was asking me to come for support, to help give him strength. I wasn't going to just leave him out to dry.

I squeezed his hands.

"Of course," I said.

* * *

I looked at Luke's house as we approached. It loomed before us in the cold winter daylight. Luke gripped my hand tightly. His eyes were as cold as the frozen snow on the ground here, his jaw was set, and the muscles in his shoulders were tense. I looked down at the sidewalk leading up to the house and saw things poking out of the layer of snow but it was too deep to make out what they were. I decided it was best not to ask and continued forward with Luke.

Behind us were two monsters, a _dracaena_ and _empousa_. Upon insistence, they were to escort us here and to the Underworld because Kronos didn't trust us not to try anything. I think they were also there to remind Luke if he backed out, I'd be killed. As if he didn't have enough reminders already.

My breath condensed in the cold air and a chill ran down my spine as we got to the porch. But it wasn't because of the cold, it was because of what was on the porch. It wasn't bad per se, just dozens upon dozens of wind chimes—shiny pieces of glass and metal constantly clinking against each other—and brass ribbons that were taking over the porch, it was very eerie.

The front door was painted an odd turquoise color with Luke's last name painted in English and Greek.

Luke stopped in front of the door and looked at it for a long time. I looked over at him uncertainly. Finally he raised his fist to knock, but froze. His whole arm trembled. I squeezed his hand to remind him he wasn't alone, that I was here for him.

I knew how much he hated this place. After we'd grown close, he'd told me everything about his past. Growing up with his mother, running away, finding Thalia and then Annabeth. When he talked about his home, he always seemed so pained and angry. It was a severely sensitive subject and I only talked about it with him if he brought it up.

Finally he brought his fist forward. He was barely able to pull his hand back before the door swung open and an older woman cried, "Luke!" in an elated voice. Luke took a step back, swallowing hard.

May Castellan was as thin as a stick. Her hair had gone white and stuck out in tufts on her head. Her housedress was littered with scorch marks and ash. She was smiling, but it was a very Uncanny Valley kind of smile. Something about it was very unsettling. And her eyes…well, Luke had told me what had happened to her, he'd told me about her fits. However, seeing her eyes in real life made it all the more unnerving. She looked like she might be blind, but I knew better.

"Oh, my dear boy!" May cried, throwing her arms around Luke. He tensed and his hand tightened on mine so hard I had to hold back a yelp of pain. It felt like my bones were fusing together, but bit my tongue.

She finally pulled back—Luke didn't relax—and waved us in. Well, more like him, she acted like I wasn't even there.

"Come in!" she said. "I have your lunch ready!"

Luke gave me a wary glance before going inside. I trailed after him. He didn't let go of my hand. The monsters stayed on the porch, guarding the door.

My breath caught as we went through the living room and I had a look around. Mirrors and candles filled nearly every single space of the room, except for the pathway from the front door to the kitchen. I tried to turn away from my reflection, only everywhere I looked I saw myself. I gulped down a scream and fought the urge to break every single mirror in the room. My eyes searched for anything that wasn't a mirror and finally rested above the mantel, where a miniature bronze Hermes flew around the second hand of a clock.

The other thing that caught my eye was a framed picture resting on the mantel. It was of Luke about eleven or twelve years ago. His bright blue eyes shone and he had a big smile on his face. His lips were parted, showing his two missing teeth. I couldn't help a small smile from forming on my lips at that picture.

Luke continued to pull me forward, following May to the back of the house, where the kitchen was.

"This way, dear," May said, taking hold of Luke's other wrist and pulling him. I guess he was moving too slow for her. Again, Luke's grip on my hang tightened. "I told them you'd come back. I just knew it!"

I almost stopped short when we entered the kitchen. I couldn't believe my eyes. I tried not to gag at the smell. On the counter were, what looked to be like, hundreds of Tupperware containers with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches inside. The ones of the very bottom were molding so bad, all you could see was green, fuzzy stuff. As you went up, the mold lessened, like an odd mold continuum. Sitting on the oven was a pile of cookie sheets. As far as I could tell each one held burned cookies. In the sink was a mound of empty plastic Kool-Aid pitchers. A stuffed Medusa sat near the faucet. I would've thought this was a tad odd, but the mountains of different food and cooking items surpassed that by a landslide.

Above the sink, taped around the window, were little pictures of Hermes and the caduceus cut from magazines and newspaper ads.

Luke stiffly took a seat at the kitchen table. I took a seat next to him, my heart pounding in my chest. I wanted to get out of this place as fast as possible. I glanced at Luke. How had he managed for nine years? I mean, it wasn't this bad when he was younger, but still…

May began to hum as she started making another peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Her eyes didn't ever seem to leave Luke. Over the horrendous smell of molding food, I thought I could also smell burning.

He took a deep breath and swallowed hard before finally speaking, "Mom." His voice cracked, like it was difficult to call her that. May blinked and seemed to realize something because her stretched smile lessoned and her eyebrows furrowed.

Faster than I thought she'd be able to move, or _any_ human should be able to move for that matter, she had dropped the sandwich she'd been making and went up to Luke.

"Oh, dear," she started. "What's happened to you, my boy?" she asked. Her hands, fingers covered in peanut butter, came up as if to touch Luke's cheek, but Luke seemed prepared, as if he expected it and caught her wrist gently before May's hand reached its destination.

Luke finally let go of my hand—I flexed my fingers underneath the table as blood rushed back into them—to gently usher his mother into the chair at the head of the table, facing us.

"I'm okay," Luke said in a strained voice, pulling away and sitting down in his chair again, angling his body toward May. "Just…just something I got protecting you." His voice sounded so broken, my heart squeezed. I finally realized she must've comprehended the scare he'd acquired from a dragon and that made all this so much worse. I reached out for his hand again and he gripped mine tightly.

May still seemed upset about this.

"Listen…Mom," Luke started again. "I…I need to ask you for something. I'm going to the River Styx and I need your blessing."

"The River Styx?" May asked. "Isn't that in the Underworld?"

"Yes," Luke said quickly. "This is really important, Mom, I need your blessing. Will you give it to me?"

May's 10-wat smile reappeared. "Of course, my dear, I give you my blessing."

Luke relaxed slightly and he stood up. I followed suit. He turned toward me and whispered, "We can go now."

I nodded and started for the exit only suddenly May gasped. I looked over to see her hunched in her chair. Luke griped my hand tighter and backed toward the kitchen door. His eyes were wide and stricken. My head snapped back to May when she let out a sigh that sounded more like the combination of a hiss and a swarm of bees than a sigh as she straightened up in her chair.

I took an involuntary step back and my heart shot into my throat when I saw her eyes. They glowing green.

" _My son_ ," she spoke, her voice sounded hoarse and had become deeper. I couldn't get myself to tear my eyes away from her. I was almost paralyzed with fear. Of all my years as a demigod, I'd never seen anything like this. Of course, Luke had told me what happened to her, how she'd tried to take on the Oracle of Delphi's spirit but something had gone terribly wrong and this was the result. But seeing it in person was so much more terrifying than just hearing Luke talk about it. It's a wonder he didn't lose his mind living in a home like this.

"Tori, we should go, _now_ ," Luke told me in a low, strangled voice. I didn't disagree. However, before I could even take another step toward the kitchen door I was suddenly falling. My head smacked the ground so hard my vision went dark. Hands closed around my throat and my own hands came up automatically to grab the wrists of my attacker. When my vision cleared, I saw Luke's mother hovering over me, her eyes were still glowing green. It was her hands constricting my airways.

I pulled at her wrists, but I was afraid to hurt her and though she looked fragile, her grip was frighteningly strong. She was saying other things because her lips were definitely moving, but I couldn't hear her over the roar of blood in my ears. My head started to swim as I struggled to breathe and her hands only seemed to tighten their hold.

Luke was trying to pull her off of me too, but either she was just _that_ strong or he was afraid of hurting her as well.

Black spots started to cover my vision. My struggles became meager. And just as the world started to fade, air rushed into my lungs. I coughed, blinking hard to clear my vision, and sat up, pulling away from May as I did. Luke was on the floor now, holding an unconscious May, but his eyes were on me, wide and worried.

I held a hand to my throat and stared back at him, not quite sure what to do, or say. My throat hurt and my chest heaved as I breathed in precious air. My heart pounded irregularly in my chest. Despite the smell in the kitchen, it felt good to be able to actually breathe again. I continued to hold his gaze as my body settled back down and got oxygen to where it needed to go, though my ADHD had kicked in and now I'm alert, aware and jump at the slightest movement. My heart is still beating erratically, just a tad bit slower now.

May stirred, opening her eyes, blinking and shaking her head. Her eyes had gone back to their fractured state, no longer glowing green.

"Oh, my," she said, looking around. "What happened? Did I fall?" It's odd to hear her talk normally, like nothing happened.

Luke's eyes flickered between me and his mother.

"I'm—" I started, but broke off because my throat felt like it was in flames and my voice sounded like May's when her eyes had turned green. I opted to simply shake my head and wave him off.

Luke's eyebrows furrowed and he frowned, but he stood up without saying anything, helping May up as well. I continued to sit, just to take it all in for a moment. As soon as Luke decided May was okay, he was at my side, carefully grasping my upper forearm and helping me up. We started to leave when May stopped us.

"Luke," she said, reaching to grab his free wrist. Luke tensed up again. "You're not leaving again are you?"

His eyes took on a pained look, and even though I'd almost just been strangled to death, I want to comfort him.

"I'll be back…for lunch," he choked out in a whisper. May doesn't let go of his wrist. "I promise."

May's smile slowly reappeared and she finally let go of Luke, who swiftly led me out of the kitchen and through the living room, to the front door. I caught my reflection in one of the many mirrors and see my eyes are so bloodshot they almost look entirely red. I quickly averted my gaze, glancing back to see May back at the kitchen counter, humming and making sandwiches again.

Once outside, Luke stopped on the porch, turning me to face him, gently caressing my face.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I didn't realize—she's never done that before. I'm so sorry. Will you be all right?" Luke continued to apologize and since I can't exactly speak I tap one of his hands. He paused a moment and I pressed a finger to lips to indicate that I wanted him to be silent.

I mouthed, "I'm okay."

"Are you sure—?" Luke started but I pressed a finger to his lips this time and nod before pulling him in for a hug. I closed my eyes and held him close to me, soaking in his warmth and his scent, ingraining it into my memory for when I won't be able to be this close to him again, not after….

"I love you," Luke murmured.

I pulled back to give him a small smile. "I love you, too." I mouthed before stretching up for a kiss.

* * *

I wish we'd gotten some kind of break after visiting May because being strangled took a lot out of you. Alas, we were to head to the Underworld through a door created by Orpheus as soon as possible. He'd created it to retrieve his dead wife by playing music.

Although, we were allowed to stop at the ship and grab some ambrosia for me, to heal my throat. I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to sing anymore, I may have taken more than I really needed. Regardless, the soreness and burning went away and I could finally talk again.

We'd see about the singing, soon.

As it turned out, there was, indeed, a way to transport across the country in seconds. They were these small round, concave devices. Like shields, only they were much too small (they could fit in your pocket) and looked much more precious than shields. They were decorated with a golden rim etched with swirling designs. In the middle was colored emerald green with golden flecks throughout. Apparently supplied by Hecate—it could transport you almost anywhere in the world within seconds.

That's how we'd gone back to the ship from Connecticut, and then went from the ship to the southern part of Central Park in Manhattan. It was dark, freezing and there was snow on the ground here, too. Not that I was really all that surprised.

The entrance looked like a pile of rocks, because…well it was. It really didn't look like much, but this was where it was. And of all places, of course it was in New York.

I was reluctant to sing, not only because I was deathly afraid I wouldn't be able to anymore, or at least, not as well, but also because of the two monsters who were stationed with us again. I was just feeling a tad bit uncomfortable. I knew they knew we needed music to open the passage, but still, it was hard to start singing with them hovering over us.

I took Luke's hand and closed my eyes, pretending that the monsters weren't actually there and started to sing softly, "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King. I heard the rocks shiver and start to move and opened my eyes to see a pitch black hole appear in the rocks. A dank, earthy smell wafted from it and there were steps, but they looked unsafe.

Luke's grip on my hand tightened as he hesitantly ducked into the tunnel. There was only room for one at a time, so I followed behind. I was still softly singing the rest of the song to comfort myself, despite the two monsters on my heels. As far as I could tell, I could still sing just fine and just as well as I had before, so that was comforting.

The tunnel was making me claustrophobic and the steps were steep. As we got closer to the actual Underworld they smoothed out into a thin hill-like trail that made me extremely afraid of slipping and falling into nothingness.

Finally the tunnel opened up and the slope widened into a beach with black sand lining an inky black river several yards in front of us. Across the river was the official Underworld. Something I thought I'd only ever see when I was actually dead.

To my left was a large, obsidian palace that loomed over a never-ending field of bare poplar trees and white mist. Looking closer, I realized that the white stuff wasn't mist, but spirits—the Fields of Asphodel, I assumed, from what I'd learned at Camp Half-Blood. I unconsciously stepped closer to Luke.

To my right were large gates, probably the gates you went through to get into the Underworld, though I didn't see any reason. It wasn't like anyone wanted to get in and it didn't look like anyone was trying to escape. At least not the spirits in the Fields of Asphodel.

Farther to my right, bright orange and red lights burned, probably from fires. If I listened closely enough, I could hear faint screams. Must be the Fields of Punishment, then. Finally, between the gates and the Fields of Punishment, golden light shined. It reminded me of the sun's light, actually. So, I figured that must be Elysium.

Luke took a deep breath and started toward the edge of the river. One monster followed us, while one stayed at the path that had led down here. About half-way there, though I stopped.

"Wait," I said, staring at the dark, churning water of the Styx. It was odd to be so close to something we made binding promises and swears on.

Luke squeezed my hand. "Are you trying to make me lose my nerve?" he asked, trying to joke. In spite of everything, I smiled, but it faded quickly.

"No, it's just…" I turned to face him fully but noticed the _emousa_ staring at us, waiting impatiently. "Could you give us a moment?" I asked. She narrowed her eyes, her hair flaring. "Where are we going to run? It's the Underworld and you've got someone stationed at the exit." I gestured toward the _dracaena_.

With a murderous look, the _empousa_ turned and marched over to go stand with the _dracaena_ , though she was closer to us, just in case, I supposed.

I turned back to Luke and took his head into my hands.

"I just need to talk to you about something, real quick, okay?" I asked. Luke nodded, looking worried. I closed my eyes for a moment and swallowed hard before opening them again and meeting Luke's eyes. "I promise to stay with you for as long as you need me—"

"You know you're promising forever, right?" he asked, stepping closer to me, putting his arms around my waist. I couldn't help but smile at that. I felt tears prick my eyes.

"…but, I don't think I would be able to handle you…as Kronos." I whispered. "I will stay with you up until that point. After that…well, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do, but I want you to know that if I leave, it's not because I'm abandoning you. No matter what Kronos might tell you, however that works. I'm _not_ abandoning you."

Luke held me closer, reaching up to caress my face, stroke my cheek with his thumb, keeping his gaze locked with mine.

"Okay," he whispered back. "Okay, I understand."

"You have to promise me, Luke, please." I told him in an urgent whisper. My tears nearly spilled over. I had to make sure that he wouldn't be swayed by Kronos again. I didn't want him to think that I'd left him alone. I didn't want to make a bad situation worse. "Promise me you'll remember."

"I promise."

* * *

 **The choking scene was inspired by the one (SPOILER ALERT) at the end of** _**Mocking Part I** _ **. I thought because May has seen flashes of Luke's fate, she also knows that Tori is the reason why he's doing this. So seeing the person who's causing her son's horrible fate in one of her fits, she lashes out and tries to kill her.**

 **Also, forgot to mention last chapter because I was tired, that last little scene where Tori catches the** _**empousa** _ **'s blade was half taken, half inspired by a scene from the second season of** _**Black Butler** _ **, which is an anime/manga (I like the manga better, but I like the first season of the anime way more than the second season). Anyway, got to give credit where it's due, right?**

 **Finally, I took the transportation device idea and look from the movie,** _**Sea of Monsters** _ **, but modified it a bit.**


	26. Stardust to Remember You By

I liked to wander the ship. Which is part of the reason I knew it so well, is because when I wasn't helping Luke with plans for the Labyrinth, I wandered. And found places I could break for a little while and not let Luke see. I'd only broken that one mirror, but I liked to go to different rooms. I no longer entered bathrooms, period. I could barely stand the sight of myself in a mirror. It was also a precaution, you could never be too careful on a ship full of monsters. Especially if those monsters had been ordered by Kronos to kill you.

Even though I knew the halls like the back of my hand, I hadn't visited all the rooms. Sometimes I was afraid of what'd I'd find. The once nice carpet and walls had been worn away by slime, overuse, claw marks from other monsters, and _dracaenae_ 's snake trunks dragging up and down the hallways. A lot of the beauty had gone, leaving behind nothing but reality and that reality was gruesome.

Today I chose a random door and opened it slowly, peeking inside. It was on a lower deck, so lower class. The carpet, drapes, and bedding weren't as fancy, but they were nice enough. I slipped inside, not bothering to turn on the light and looked around the room. It looked as if no one had inhabited it at all. Not just after the ship had been ridden of its glaze-eyed passengers, but before that.

The only thing that told me otherwise was something I never expected to find: a portable cassette player, like the one my mom used to own. I wondered where hers was now…. I opened the cassette player up to see if there was a cassette inside and there was. It was labeled _For Gwen_ , which didn't tell me anything about the contents other than the fact that it was probably a mix tape. My mom told me about those, too, how people liked to mix and match their favorite songs—or this case, another person's favorites songs—and put them on cassettes.

I sat down on the bed, staring at the small cassette. _For Gwen_. I felt tears prick my eyes. I couldn't think about this too hard, it was too sad to be able to. There were no ways this could end happily.

I let out a bitter laugh, either the Fates were mocking me or they were foreshadowing my future.

I looked back down at the tape running my thumb over the label. It suddenly struck me—music! Actual music! Something I hadn't heard in a long time. Sure I sung, and that was enough to get me by, but being a demigod you kind of lost out on being able to listen to music by other artists. It reminded me of the summer days when my mom would turn on the radio and pull me up from sulking on the sofa to dance, and dance badly at that.

I smiled in spite of myself.

Then I started searching for headphones. If the cassette player had been left, surely the headphones would around here somewhere, too, right? I put the tape back in the player and close it, setting it on the nightstand before searching the floor around the bed and nightstand. Nothing there, but then I realized the nightstand had a drawer. I held my breath as I opened it up. My spirits lifted when I saw an older pair of full-sized headphones. Not the greatest, but if they worked, they worked.

I pulled them out and quickly plugged the jack into the port for audio. In fact it wasn't a mix-tape, to my surprise. All the songs were sung by the same person and a lot of the same instruments were used in most of the songs, so it must've just been someone converting a CD to a tape for Gwen. There was one song, though, that particularly stuck out to me. It was sweet and short, but it also resonated with me. At that moment I wished this had been a CD and a CD player, that there was some way I could find out the title.

Once the tape had ended, I rewound it, setting both the player and headphones inside the drawer of the nightstand. I would remember this room and come back to it, but I didn't want to be carrying around it with me. There were too many ways I could think of something going wrong which would cause me to lose it or break it. I wasn't going to take that chance.

It kind of reminded me of my guitar. I wondered if Dan was taking good care of it. With a painful pang, I wondered if he was even still alive. Did he hate me or miss me if he was?

I gritted my teeth and balled my hands into fists, stopping those thoughts. I couldn't think about them right now. There was work to be done. I'd spent time away from everything, it was time I go back before Luke started worrying.

When I got to the admiralty suite the doors burst open before I could open them. Kelli faced me in full _empousa_ form, her nostrils flaring, her hair blazing, looking frustrated. I automatically reached for my sword but she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe you can get him to calm down," she snarled before pushing past me and stalking off down the hall. I watched her until she turned around the corner, a little confused, before I turned back to the stateroom. Luke was inside, pacing back and forth, looking angry and frustrated too.

I took an uneasy step in. Kronos's golden coffin had been put back in here on the dais. It was back filling the room with its golden light and cold temperature. Even so I knocked lightly on the open door to get Luke's attention. He stopped pacing and looked to see who it was. His features softened when he saw me.

"Tori," he greeted.

"Hey." I stepped in further. "What's gotten you so upset?"

"This whole Labyrinth plan doesn't seem to be working," he growled, throwing one of his hands up and rolling his eyes as he began pacing again. "I can't keep sending people in. None of them have returned thus far. I have no idea how we'll ever find Daedalus. I'm doing all I can and not getting any results." He ran his fingers through his hair in agitation.

I went up to him, to stop him from pacing, taking his face into my hands.

"Hey, hey, it's all right," I told him softly. "These things take time. The Labyrinth is huge and magical, it's not going to be easy to find its creator."

"I _know_ that," Luke said his tone more desperate and softer now. He took a step closer to me and gripped my upper forearms. I dropped my hands. "But if I don't…if I can't—" His eyes looked at me searchingly, unable to find the right words. "If I can't deliver, he'll—" He broke off again, his eyes flickering to the coffin. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if _anything_ were to happen to you…" His voice was ragged.

"I'll be fine," I assured him. "Nothing's going to happen to me." I reached up to brush some of his hair from his forehead. "It's just going to take a little time. Be patient." I hated that I was indirectly talking about destroying my home like this, but I tried not to look at it that way. It was the only thing keeping me sane.

Luke sighed and rested his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes and listened to his breathing. For some reason that one song I'd listened to from the tape started playing in my head.

"Why don't you take a break—?" I started to suggest.

Luke pulled back and dropped his arms. "I can't. I just want to…finish this. I _need_ to finish this…."

"Correction, I'm ordering you to take a break. You can't argue." I said. Luke blinked and looked at me, trying to determine if I was joking. I stared back at him, not wavering. When he opened his mouth, possibly to object, I interrupted him. "Okay, good, so we're agreed." I grabbed his hand and started leading him out of the suite.

"Tori," Luke objected, but it was weak. I looked back at him and smiled.

"Ten minutes, Luke." I coaxed, slowing a little. "You _need_ to get away from this for a little while. It's not healthy."

"What are we going to do?" he asked. I continued to lead him down the hall.

"I think I'm going to teach you how to waltz." I blurted, that song still stuck in my head. It had a good tune for waltzing now that I really thought about it.

"You know how to waltz?" Luke questioned sounding surprised. I continued to lead him to where I knew the ballroom was, except now he was keeping pace with me. We were still holding hands.

"Yep, I learned with my brother," I explained, turning down another hallway. "He needed to learn for a play he was in and needed a partner to practice with. That's also how I learned to tango. Though, that was for a musical."

"Are you going to sing again?"

I nodded, pleased he sounded eager.

Luke was reluctant to learn at first, afraid he'd stop on my feet, but he seemed to pick it up easily enough. I mean, he did step on my feet quite a bit, but I'd experienced worse pain before. (I didn't tell him this, though.)

When he finally got the hang of it I started singing the song I'd accidentally memorized. It sounded way more melancholy when I sung it and I wasn't sure if I liked that or if it made the song that much more beautiful.

We slowed to a stop as I finished the last note, but I continued to hold on to him, stepping closer so I could rest my head against his chest. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent, listened to his slightly irregular heartbeat.

Luke shifted and I pulled away, looking up at him. Somehow his blue eyes managed to take my breath away like I was seeing them for the first time again.

Ever since holding up the sky, he'd looked older and sickly. I'm sure the stress of leading a monstrous army and following Kronos wasn't helping. The water of the Styx seemed to have taken off the effects of that stress. He looked his age again, healthier. His scar didn't look swollen or angry or red anymore. His skin wasn't pallid or swallow. A poster child for excellent health.

"That was _way_ more than ten minutes," he said with a lop-sided smile. I rolled my eyes but smiled. I was about to respond to that with something snarky but the words died in my throat when I caught sight of the biggest hellhound I'd ever seen. I'd pulled away enough to see through the double-door entrance to the ballroom, which was being blocked by the hellhound.

Now, I've told you about my fear after everything that happened with my mother, and I could handle that fear having been around them for so long now. But _this_ …I'd never seen a hellhound so big before. It was larger than a tank, easy. It couldn't even fit through the doors. But it stood outside them, red eyes gazing in.

I think my heart stopped. The blood drained from my face. Luke might've asked what was wrong, but I couldn't hear him over the ringing in my ears. Ringing that slowly turned into my mother's screams as she called for my father to save her.

At this point, Luke had turned to see what I'd seen and pulled his sword. He stood protectively in front of me. I would've gotten after him any other time, but right now my brain was barely functioning. I could've been going into shock. Or just paralyzed with fear.

"A little birdy told me you've been looking for me," a voice came from the doorway. A man stepped into the view, in front of the giant beast, his back turned on it, and I wondered how and why and what was even going on anymore.

The man was smiling grimly like he'd just made some kind of joke. He was probably around fifty. He had short grey hair and a clipped beard the same color. He wore tan mountain-climbing pants, a black t-shirt and a red flannel over it, unbuttoned. A sword rested at his side.

Luke gripped his own sword and didn't lower it. "I don't quite understand," he said.

"I am Daedalus," the old man said. "But I do prefer Quintus, if you will." I was too shocked about the hellhound to be shocked about meeting a two thousand year old Greek demigod who'd invented the Labyrinth.

"You've got…" Luke started, gesturing with his sword to the hellhound. Daedalus looked at it over his shoulder.

"Oh, don't mind Mrs. O'Leary," he said, turning to face us again with a smile. I just stared at him not quite comprehending. He'd named her. And a lot of the time you named something when you wanted to keep it as a pet.

"You have a hellhound," Luke started slowly, still not lowering his sword, "as a pet?"

"Yes," Daedalus said matter-of-factly. "However, I do believe we have other matters to discuss. Such as why you're looking for me?" He stopped into the door and I quickly stepped back, afraid the hellhound would follow him. Despite the fact that he owned her, seeing a hellhound at such a size had brought my fear hard and fast.

"It's all right," the inventor said. "Mrs. O'Leary will stay out in the hall." As he came toward us, Luke slowly sheathed his sword, but kept his eyes on Daedalus's own sword. We took seats at one of the big round tables and exchanged names. A small gap separated me and Luke from Daedalus so we could see each other and talk.

Well, Luke and Daedalus did most of the talking. I was trying to calm myself down. Which wasn't working because I couldn't take my eyes off Mrs. O'Leary, who was snoozing in the hallway, right in front of the doors. Luke's hand in mine was the only thing keeping me in my seat, keeping me somewhat calm. It was grounding.

Luke explained he wanted to obtain Ariadne's string. Daedalus was quiet for a long time before asking why. After Luke explained what Kronos was planning, the old inventor then asked why he should give it to Luke. He didn't seem too fazed by the fact that the titan lord was trying to take over the world again. Then again, he was two millennia old, he had to have seen it all at this point. Or maybe he had a good poker face.

Daedalus mentioned that Ariadne herself had led Thesus through the maze. While the string helped, he told Luke that a mortal with clear sight through the mist was a better option. Luke disagreed, and Daedalus continued to insist. I still couldn't pull my eyes away from the massive hellhound, but I my voice returned to me. I told Daedalus that we didn't have time to find this mortal, that the string would be easier. I wasn't sure if it was something in my voice or my face, but Daedalus dropped it.

I had believed that he was right, getting a mortal who could see through the mist clearly would be better than the string, but I was afraid of what Kronos would twist Luke to do to that poor soul. I didn't want that on my conscience, or Luke's. And I didn't want a mortal to be thrust so brutally into our world like that. It wasn't fair to them.

Luke and Daedalus's conversation continued and I continued watching his pet. It wasn't until the inventor said my name did I look over at him in shock.

"What?" I asked.

"You want to speak with her alone?" Luke repeated, confused and weary. His grip tightened on my hand.

"If that is all right," Daedalus nodded. "You can stay in the room, of course, I would just like to speak with her privately for a moment. I promise, I won't do anything."

Luke looked back at me with a silent question and my eyes wandered back and forth from him and Daedalus.

"It's okay," I finally said, my gaze coming to a rest on Luke. "I'll be fine." I squeezed his hand and gave him a reassuring smile. Luke swallowed hard and nodded before getting up and walking a few paces away, out of ear shot, but just so, just in case Daedalus _did_ try something. I didn't think he would, though.

I looked back at Daedalus. He'd moved closer to me.

"You don't belong here," he said as soon as I'd turned back to face him.

"What?" I asked a jolt going through me. I was suddenly nervous. It wasn't like I was hiding anything though, I'm sure that Kronos knew just how much I didn't belong, but he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't kill me because he would lose Luke, and he'd tried to get rid of me by making Luke think I'd abandoned him, but that had backfired too. I didn't expect him to give up on getting rid of me, but Luke had jumped into the River Styx and taken on the Curse of Achilles, he would be hosting Kronos very soon, so I didn't think he'd try anything between now and then.

"You don't agree with what Luke is doing, yet you are here, to talk to me about finding a way to destroy your home." He clarified, making me feel a little less frantic.

"How did you know—?" I started, but didn't finish.

"When we were talking about Camp Half-Blood you got this look in your eye," Daedalus started, "You've been away far too long, you miss it, and you don't want to see it destroyed. But you've been helping Luke look for me for that very purpose." The way he said it made it seem like he knew the feeling of being away from something you loved for too long.

"Okay, and…?" I pressed, looking over at Luke with a pleading expression, but he was looking at Mrs. O'Leary. I look back at Daedalus.

"Tell me why," he requested quietly.

I looked at him for a long time, my eyes occasionally straying over to where Luke was standing.

"Luke is doing this…for me," I started. "I mean, he's taking orders from Kronos, but the only reason he's continued to do so is because of me." I paused for a moment, glancing again at Luke. "I love him. And he loves me. And Kronos has threatened to kill me if Luke doesn't comply with his wishes. But I can't leave him right now, when he needs me. So I'll stay with him. For as long as it takes…" I trailed off, on the verge of tears, but not wanting to cry in front of Daedalus.

"And have you told anyone else about the predicament you've been put into? Any of your friends back at camp?" he questioned.

"No," I answered in a stronger voice. "It wouldn't make a difference. It might make them hate me more. It won't stop them from fighting Kronos. And I hope that you will respect my decision when you go to the camp. I don't _want_ anyone knowing. Not yet, anyway. It doesn't seem fair to any of us." I looked back at Luke.

"I think you should," Daedalus said softly. My eyes snapped back to the inventor. "Just think about that, all right." Without waiting for a response from me, he called Luke back over.

Daedalus said he'd think on what Luke had asked. First, he wanted to go to Camp Half-Blood to see what the dynamics there were. He promised to be back and that we'd meet again. With that said and done, Daedalus left us in the ballroom, his giant hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary, bounding after him. (I was surprised she'd even fit in the hallways.)

* * *

I hiked up the stupid dress's skirt and continued running. I'd never worn laced sandals before, and I didn't really like them, but I was glad that I hadn't been forced into heels. It wasn't ancient Greek enough. At least I still had my sword. It was hanging from the braid of rope around my waist. Though, I was much more inclined to use it now that I was just a little pissed off, so it wasn't good for anyone who got in my way.

It wasn't like wearing this would have been _bad_ , per se, it was the fact that while I'd been attacked and ordered to put on this dress Kelli had left without me.

We had agreed to deliver the news about the Labyrinth to Luke together. Apparently her definition of together was different than mine. I had tried to go after her as soon as she took off, but I'd been pulled back. And, okay, maybe I had only complied at that point because Kelli had been dressed in this wicked red evening gown and she looked gorgeous and I knew that she would flirt with Luke at any chance she got and I'm the type of person to get jealous. But that wasn't the point!

I really shouldn't have been surprised. Kelli had been angry at me ever since we got back from the Styx. Well…more angry than she already was, at least. It was in that moment did I realize she had possibly set up that ambush, which only made me more pissed.

Finally I got to the hallway that led to the admiralty suite. I turned the corner to see Kelli and two _dracaenae_ flanking her. Luke was standing in front of Kronos's coffin and facing the _empousa_. He didn't looked very pleased to see her, despite how she dressed, and I'll admit that lifted my spirits a little.

None of them seemed to notice my arrival.

I slowed and caught my breath, walking at a normal pace down the hallway. A cold wind blew from the open windows and I felt goosebumps form on my arms. Why did this dress have to be so revealing? At least, it was revealing to me. I'd always worn my half-sleeved shirts and pants. This dress had not sleeves and the neckline was so _low_ and it was just the tiniest bit drafty…

I couldn't think about this too much, though, because I'd just come within ear-shot of the conversation.

"If you have something to report, say it. Otherwise leave!" Luke snapped in a cold voice. I couldn't help but smile a little at this.

"I don't know why you're so huffy these days. You _used_ to be fun to hang around." Kelli complained, crossing her arms and probably pouting.

"That was before I saw what you did to that boy in Seattle."

I shuddered. I hadn't been there, but it reminded me of when Kelli had sent one her trainees or whatever to camp and attack my brother.

"Oh, he meant nothing to me," Kelli purred, uncrossing her arms. "Just a snack, really. You know my heart belongs to you, Luke."

"Oh," I exclaimed in a melodramatic voice having finally made it to them. "How sweet. I'm getting cavities." The _dracaenae_ both stepped away from me as I came to stand next to Kelli, who turned to glare at me murderously, her eyes flashing red and her hair bursting into flame momentarily.

"What do you want?" she growled.

"To stop flirting with my boyfriend," I quipped.

Kelli's eyes widened. "Oh, is that what that's called? Forgive me, I'm still adjusting to how these customs work."

I scoffed. "You're just angry that I dusted another one of your sisters. You got that Aphrodite kid to ambush me, didn't you?"

"Well, can you blame me?" she shot back, dropping the innocence. "Besides, you _needed_ it." She wrinkled her nose. "Have you _looked_ in a mirror lately?"

I fumed quietly for a moment before responding. "Well, maybe if you hadn't had her attack Luke as soon as he got out of the river, I wouldn't have dusted her. Ever think about that?"

Kelli opened her mouth to respond, but Luke interrupted.

"Tori…" His voice almost sounded choked, like he'd lost it and had just now found it again. I looked over at him. He was looking at me with wide eyes and I suddenly remembered what I was wearing. I tried not to, but I felt blood seep into my face anyway. I shifted onto one foot and looked away, trying to play it off.

I sighed heavily and put my hands on my hips, one hand toying with the hilt of my sword. "One of the Aphrodite children caught me off guard," I muttered, still not looking at Luke. But I could definitely feel his eyes on me. "He _insisted_ I wear this. He said we'd match." I rolled my eyes, but I admit that it was true. I looked back at Luke through the corners of my eyes. He was dressed in the Greek-style with a Greek _chiton_ and a white _himation_. With the Styx's healing, he looked stunning, absolutely handsome. My heart did a little summersault, thinking about it now. It felt odd and almost painful in my chest, but quite warm.

"Well, if you two are _quite_ done, I do believe we have more important matters to attend to," Kelli said, grabbing our attention. Luke still looked a bit dazed, but he shook it off as best he could and glared at Kelli.

"Report then," he said in a hard voice.

"The advanced team is ready. We can leave—" She broke off suddenly, frowning.

"What is it?" Luke prompted, irritated.

"A presence," Kelli replied. "You're senses are getting dull, Luke. We're being watched." She scanned the room before focusing on a spot. I couldn't see anything, but Kelli did. She transformed back into full _empousa_ form before snarling, baring her fangs and lunging at the spot. I could've sworn I saw something shimmer after she pounced, but it was so fast I couldn't be sure.

"If that's taken care of, then," I said, turning back to Luke. "As Kelli said, the advanced team is ready. They can leave at sunrise. We'll be able to leave a few hours after them."

After several meeting with Daedalus, we'd finally come to an agreement.

During our meetings, Luke had brought up Daedalus's son, Icarus (I knew that story already), and his nephew Perdix (Luke told me Daedalus had caused Predix's death, making him fall from the roof of a building). I figured Kronos must've told him. It was obviously a touch subject, but Luke had promised that Kronos would bring them back for him. Luke also mentioned King Minos. From what I gleaned, Minos was hunting Daedalus (the why, I wasn't clear on), and Kronos had promised to rid Daedalus of his hunter as well.

The old inventor agreed to give Luke Ariadne's string, but we had to get through the Labyrinth and meet him at a juncture (as he'd called it). Also a place we wouldn't be able to avoid going through the Labyrinth. It led anyone who traveled through the maze to that place. He said that he'd tell us what he needed to when we met him there.

We were sending in Kelli and a group of monsters first to, hopefully, get to the juncture. I was afraid she might try something if she was alone with Daedalus, but Luke assured me she wouldn't try anything to ruin this plan because it was particularly important to Kronos. Also, Daedalus wasn't going to show up until Luke did. I wasn't sure how the inventor would know, but he knew the Labyrinth better than anyone on this entire planet. After all, he was its creator, even if it had developed a mind of its own.

Afterward, Luke, me and a select few of other demigods were going in, as well. I wasn't looking forward to going into the maze, but I'd promised Luke that I'd stay by his side until the very last moments before he hosted Kronos.

Luke nodded and turned to Kelli. "You're dismissed."

"Fine." Kelli snipped before heading out, the two _dracaenae_ on her heels. I turned too and started to leave but Luke caught me around the waist and pulled me into him.

"Not you," he murmured in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. "You look…gorgeous, tonight"

I stepped away and turned to face him, pulling at the fabric of my dress a little self-consciously. My blush returned with a vengeance. "You really like it?" I asked. I felt kind of silly, honestly, but I couldn't help it. I'd never dressed up before. Not even when I didn't know I was a demigod. Acting had been Dan's thing.

"I do," Luke said, pulling me into him again. "I mean, you always look beautiful to me, but tonight…" He trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words.

"Y-you look nice yourself," I told him, to get the spotlight off of me. "Very ancient Greece classic."

Luke rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Shut up, Williams."

I smirked. "Make me, Castellan."

Luke smiled ruefully and caressed my face before he started leaning down. I stretched up on my laced sandal-clad toes to close the distance between us.

* * *

**The title is taken from "Boats and Birds" by Gregory and the Hawk. Also, it's the song that Tori got stuck on and sang while she and Luke waltzed. (I'm pretty sure it has a three-count…)**


	27. You and I Got Lost in It

I fell asleep, sitting next to Luke, resting my head on his shoulder. We had been in the Labyrinth for…I don't know how long. It felt like a few days, but I knew time worked differently in the Labyrinth. An hour could be 12 in the real world.

When I woke up again, I was alone. Immediate panic seized me and my heart went into overtime.

"Luke?" I called, quickly standing up and looking around the room we'd decided to rest in. Not even the other two half-bloods or two _dracaenae_ were with me. Had they all gone without me? But why? That didn't even make sense. Luke would never just leave me like this. So, then, what was going on? Was it some kind of illusion from the maze? It had to be. It must've somehow split us up or something….

A sound wrenched me out of my panicked thoughts. I looked up, for that's where the sound had come from, only I saw a blank, flat stone ceiling. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I continued to stare the ceiling. Something was definitely off about it, though. I couldn't tell what—

The noise sounded again, rock scraping against rock, and the ceiling moved about an inch toward me. I jumped and instinctively crouched, afraid it was going to fall and crush me. The ceiling moved again, another inch downward. It was like now that I knew it was moving, it started toward me faster.

I stood and frantically started searching the walls for an exit, only there were none. I felt around all four walls, looking for a hole, a tunnel, a switch that would open a new door for me, but I was coming up with nothing. All the while the ceiling moved closer and closer. I was on my knees my second time around looking for something to escape through.

Soon I was reduced to all fours, and after that I laid flat not wanting to feel the pain yet, but only delaying the inevitable. I squeezed my eyes shut, listening to it scrape against the wall as it moved toward me. I felt the coolness of the rock against my back. The noise sounded again and I tensed, holding my breath, waiting for the pain.

Only, I jerked awake again. Luke was beside me. The other four demigods were there. The two _dracaenae_ that had been with us were nowhere to be seen, but they weren't as important to me. We were all in the same room we'd fallen asleep in. This time, though, the ceiling was moving toward us at a very steady pace. I was surprised no one else had woken up to the noise it was making as it ground against the walls.

"Wake up!" I shouted, shoving Luke's shoulder. He jerked awake and instantly started looking around for the danger. "Wake up! We need to _move_!" I yelled, going to the others, Molly, daughter of Hecate, Dana, daughter of Apollo, Brett, son of Morpheus, and Eddie, son of Nike. We started haphazardly breaking what camp we'd made and throwing things into our packs as the ceiling steadily lowered. I was afraid there wasn't going to be a door, but I was too busy packing things up to really look for one. I'd just thrown my bow over my shoulder when Luke grabbed my wrist and started pulling me in a direction.

"This way!" he said. I stumbled at first, but caught his stride and looked ahead, relieved to see an actual door, leading into another tunnel of the maze. I looked back quickly to see if the others were following us. They were. At this point, we were almost crouching, the ceiling was so low. The ceiling started lowering faster.

Luke started pushing harder, forcing me to do so as well. We squeezed through the door into a tunnel that led deeper into darkness, but a few feet away veered to the left side to make room for the others. Both of us stopped, panting and straightening up. Molly crawled through what was left the door and quickly scrambled away, followed by Brett and Dana, but I didn't see Eddie immediately follow them.

"Help me!" Eddie's voice came from inside the room.

I gasped and quickly went over to the even smaller opening, determined to crawl in there and drag him out, but Luke caught me around the waist.

"No, it's too dangerous," he said. "The ceiling is lowering too fast. You'll never make it."

"Let me go!" I shrieked, beating as his arms. "I need to help him! I can't just leave him there!" I'd gotten a glimpse of him when I'd crouched down. He'd was only a few feet away from the door.

"Please! I can't…can't move. I need help!" Eddie yelled, more frantic this time.

"Luke, let me go!" I struggled harder as he tried to pull me away from the opening. "You're just wasting time. I could've gotten him out by now!"

Eddie screamed in pain. My heart jumped in my chest painfully and I had a surge of adrenaline. I broke free of Luke, but I knew I was too late. The best I could do was end his suffering quicker than being crushed would. The ceiling had slowed its decent.

"Tori!" Luke gasped as I went toward the opening. Only, I unslung my bow and pulled an arrow from my quiver, notching it before getting down on my stomach. My arm was stretched out completely as I held my bow out in front of me, the back of my hand pressed against the floor, and aimed my arrow right between Eddie's eyes. My hand almost slipped because of how much fear and pain his eyes showed. The ceiling dropped enough to cause him more pain and his eyes squeezed shut as he let out another cry of agony.

"Please!" Eddie opened his eyes again, this time begging. "It's okay."

"I'm sorry," I whispered, not sure if he could even hear me before letting my arrow go. Eddie stopped moving. I closed my eyes and turned my head away but that didn't stop me from hearing the sickening sound of bones being crushed as the ceiling collapsed.

Tears stung my eyes and I gripped my bow so hard my hand ached. There was a beat before a calloused hand grabbed my upper forearm and helped me to my feet. He caressed my face and murmured reassuring things to me. I heard none of them. He tried to get me to look at him, but I kept my gaze on the floor, trying to get the sound of Eddie's body being crushed out of my head. Trying to get the look of pain and fear on Eddie's face out of my mind. He'd been so scared…. Only my brain thought the best way to do this was to go over what went wrong, what I could've done better or sooner that would've saved all of us.

Something Eddie had said bothered me, though: _I can't…can't move._ That didn't make sense. He wasn't injured when I'd looked back when we were running for the door. Luke and I didn't encounter anything as we ran for the door. Perhaps the Labyrinth had put an obstacle Eddie's way, but I hadn't seen anything when I'd look back, either.

I slowly move my gaze down the hall. A few steps away from us, Brett was standing there, waiting with the others. Dana and Molly were looking at the door with stricken eyes. Brett was being awfully quiet. He looked unfazed even though he'd just lost a comrade. Sure the demigods Luke had recruited didn't know each other well, but you'd think surviving in the maze for however long would bring you closer together. Even a little. At the very least, a death of someone close to you would affect you in some way. But Brett stared off into the tunnel, like he was ready to move on to the next horror the maze threw at us.

Some of the puzzle pieces fell into place and sudden rage welled up inside me. Before I really knew what I was doing, I pushed Luke away from me.

"Tori?" he asked as I pulled my sword and stalked up to Brett, who'd turned when Luke had spoken. Before the son of Morpheus could unsheath his own sword, I pushed the tip of mine up to the base of his throat, forcing him back against the wall.

"You hurt him," I growled, gripping the hilt of my sword, trying not to stab him. "You made it so he wouldn't be able to get out in time."

Brett sneered. "I have no idea what you're talking about—" He broke off as I pressed my sword closer.

"Tori, what—?" Luke asked from behind, but I held up my hand to stop him.

"Stay out of this, Luke." I commanded, not daring to take my eyes off Brett. "I know what you did," I told Brett. " _Don't_ lie to me. You are in no position to lie to me."

Brett glared at me for a long moment, weighing his options.

"So what if I did?" he finally asked. "Eddie was on watch. He should've been awake. _He_ should've told us that the ceiling was starting to move. Had he been awake, maybe we would've all made it out in time."

"We would have if you hadn't hurt him!" I snapped almost stabbing him right then and there. But I got control of myself and swallowed my fury. "I woke up in time. We were all going to make it. This makes you responsible for his death. I won't take this lightly." I warned in a whisper.

"So what?" Brett asked. "Are you going to kill me now? And technically, you're the one who killed him. I watched you pull that arrow on him."

"I was making his death quick," I spit through gritted teeth. "How would you like it if a ceiling of stone slowly crushed you to death? No, Eddie's death is on your hands." I pulled away, sheathing my sword. Brett's hand went up to rub his throat. His eyes didn't leave mine. "I'm not going to kill you. I am _not_ a murderer."

* * *

The Labyrinth was a terrifying place, made from the stuff of nightmares. Any moment could be your last and you never knew what could lurking just around the corner, or in the long corridor doused in an inky blackness you couldn't even shine a light through.

Luke had offered to leave Brett stranded in that hallway we'd escaped to from that room with the collapsing ceiling. I told him that it was okay. It wasn't, really, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I'd just _left_ him here, even with the knowledge of what he'd done. Of course, that meant traveling with him, which made our whole group tense. After my little stunt, no one trusted Brett, and I could tell by the looks Molly and Dana were giving me, they were only staying at this point because Luke hadn't ordered them to do anything else.

The two _dracaenae_ had reappeared to us a little bit after our whole ordeal. No one asked any questions. I assumed it was because they were monsters, so the Labyrinth worked differently for them. I didn't even want to get into the mechanics of _that_. It just made me confused and not want to think.

We traveled on, occasionally stopping to look at the map Luke had acquired. It _seemed_ like it was a good representation of the Labyrinth, but from what Daedalus had told us, I couldn't be sure. It could've been tricking us into thinking the map was a good tool to use to help us and end up leading us to our deaths. We'd almost died at least three times and I was slowly starting to lose faith we'd ever find the juncture Daedalus had told us about.

While I couldn't blame anyone for feeling so stressed, it wasn't making our situation any better. The stress would eventually be too much and the proverbial string would snap. I'd heard the Labyrinth could drive you insane. I was afraid we were going to find that out first hand.

Insanity was an interesting thing because sometimes you could tell when someone had lost it. They had that look about them, or they did or said strange things that tipped you off. It was just obvious in some way.

And sometimes, it wasn't obvious at all.

We were coming up to a turn in the road, so to speak. The tunnel we were walking down, which was more like an excavation cave, with a sandy floor and hard-packed earth for walls, veered sharply to the right. From that right came a white smoke or mist. I couldn't tell because we were too far away and I was afraid to get any closer. The Labyrinth held so many traps and secrets. It could've been poisonous gas for all I knew.

We stopped a few yards from it. Now that we were closer, I could feel a coldness wafting in our direction. At a guess, it was just mist, reacting with the hot air coming from our tunnel. Still, I wasn't going to take any chances. And neither was Luke.

"Brett, why don't you scout ahead?" Luke ordered, turning toward the demigod. Brett glared at Luke, who glared back, daring him to defy an order. Clenching his jaw and unsheathing his sword, Brett stalked forward and straight into the mist, with no hesitation, not even checking to see if it was poisonous.

We waited for a count of thirty-eight.

"Can't see a thing!" Brett called from farther down the tunnel. "It's like fog. Not poisonous from what I can tell—" He cut off abruptly.

"Brett?" Luke called cautiously, taking a step toward the mist. My stomach knotted and a feeling of foreboding washed over me. I unsheathed my sword just as Luke unsheathed his. "Brett—" Luke was cut off by a cry of pain followed by screams that faded quickly.

Luke glanced back at me and the others. "I'll go after him." he said. I grabbed his arm before he could dash off.

"No," I said. "What if it's a trap?"

"I'll be fine," he assured. I didn't let go of his arm. He gave me a crooked smile. "I'm supposed to be invincible, remember?"

I bit my lip and reluctantly let go of his arm. He was right, but still…I was getting a seriously bad feeling. Luke pulled me in for a quick kiss before he ran into the mist. I waited, my sword still ready. There were no other sounds. I counted to forty-five before I couldn't stand it any longer.

I turned toward Dana and Molly to tell them I was going to go in after Luke, but froze. The _dracaenae_ had disappeared again and the last time they'd performed their vanishing act, someone had died. Without a word to Dana and Molly, I dashed into the fog. My heart was now in my throat, beating irregularly.

Brett had been right about it being like fog. It was cool and stuck to my heated skin. The air was much cooler and damper here, too. Worst of all, I couldn't see three feet in front of me.

"Luke!" I called into the fog, stopping and spinning, trying to gather my bearings. It was hard because I could feel the panic rising in my throat, blood roaring in my ears. Also, was it just me or had the fog gotten thicker?

I closed my eyes and forced myself to calm down, as much as I could anyway. Panicking in a place like this wasn't going to do any good. I had to stay calm and keep on high alert.

I took a few deep breaths, slowly pushing the panic back down, slowly pushing my heart back into my chest, trying to get it beat at a somewhat regular pace. Finally, I opened my eyes again. The fog was still thick, but I didn't feel quite so panicky. With my ADHD in high gear and adrenaline rushing through my veins, I used that to my advantage and focused on listening for signs of movement around me.

I started in a direction, trying to see anything else other than white. I gripped my sword and held it out in front of me, for protection and to act like a guiding stick. Crashing into a wall would most definitely _not_ help the situation.

I don't know how long I'd been walking—it felt like ages, but really could've only been a few minutes—before I saw a dark figure parting the mist a few yards in front of me. I wanted to call out to it, but was afraid that it wasn't Luke. And if it wasn't, I was only signaling my position so it could attack. Worse still, it was just a dark silhouette. I couldn't tell if it was facing me or facing away. With such ambiguity, my mind started to come up with all kinds of monstrous things. I almost had to look away. The very thought of doing so, though, filled me with enough fear I kept my eyes on the black figure.

I walked toward it slowly. Was it getting larger or just staying the same size, I couldn't tell—

A sharp pain registered at the back of my head. I let out a cry as I dropped my sword and my knees buckled. My limbs turned into led weights and I fell to the ground. My vision blurred and slowly started to fade. I fought against the darkness, but the pain and the numbness slowly overtaking that pain was too much. The white slowly faded to black.

I could feel my body again, momentarily. It still felt too heavy to move. I forced my eyelids open, but only got blurry, fuzzy, colored spots in my vision. Things were being moved. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. Bodies? I blinked hard and forced my eyes to focus, which only made my head ache like it was trying to split open.

Someone was lying in front of me or next to me…I furrowed my eyebrows in concentration and my vision cleared momentarily.

"Luke," I managed softly. It was all I could manage. I tried to reach out for him, only moving about an inch before my body decided it wasn't ready to wake up yet. Blackness overtook me yet again.

The next time I woke, my vision was clearer. So was the pain in my head. Everything seemed sharper, the colors, lights.

I groaned and forced myself into a sitting position, squeezing my eyes shut tight as the pounding in my head increased to an unbearable level. I stopped breathing all together and forced the screams down.

When the pain didn't fade, I forced myself to breath, taking deep breaths. That seemed to help. I could at least open my eyes.

What I saw confused me for a moment. There was light, but no discernable source. The walls were glassy and bluish, but with a frosty look. And it was _cold_. The floor I was sitting on sucked the heat right from my body.

That's when I realized why everything looked the way it did. The room—the walls, the floor—it was all made of ice.

I gasped as I remembered what had transpired. I looked around the room. Luke was lying next to me, not moving. Dana and Molly were nearby, also not moving. I didn't see Brett. Or the _dracaenae_. Brett, I was more concerned about. Had he tricked us? How had he navigated his way through the fog if I couldn't?

Those questions would have to be addressed later. Right now, there were three people who were probably going to die from hypothermia if I didn't figure out a way to get them out of here. But that only brought up the question: How was I not being affected? Or rather, why was I being affected more slowly? Because I was definitely cold. I was shivering, at least. The barest beginning stages of hypothermia. But I was in the room the same amount of time as the others, wasn't I?

It didn't matter now. I had to check on the others.

Their lips were the faintest of blues—moderate hypothermia. But I couldn't be too sure because I wasn't a medic and they were unconscious. The body cooled down when you slept. I went over to Luke first, checking his pulse. It was manic. Which meant mild, but also meant he could be going into severe. Trying not to freak out (I'd done enough of that already), I quickly checked the others. Molly's heartrate was also manic, but Dana's wasn't. Not yet. I moved them all into the fetal position and closer together, so they could possibly share and conserve any heat they had left.

Then I looked around the room for anything, an exit, maybe, or…something! The first thing I saw were our packs all piled in corner with our weapons. We'd packed for possible cold situations, but nothing like this. Even so, I ripped open the packs and pulled out the coats. I fumbled to get them on, but my fingers were going numb and I had to blink away the blurriness. My body was begging me to sit down and curl into a ball—terminal burrowing—but I forced myself to keep moving.

When I stood up again and looked around the room, I stopped for a moment, staring down at the three huddled bodies…I couldn't remember what I was going to do. Or was supposed to do next.

I stood there for a moment…then two…an exit! I _needed_ to find an exit. Gritting my teeth—mental confusion was another symptom of hypothermia—I started looking for a way out of here. I had to have circled that room at least five times before my brain finally decided to work and noticed that there was a door-shaped patch of ice that was thinner than the rest.

There was no guarantee that it was an exit, but at this point, I had to try. Before going to the weapons, I went to check on the three again. Dana's heartrate had changed to manic. Luke and Molly's heartrates had dropped, slowing down tremendously. Their breathing matched. They'd gone into severe and Dana was following closely. I was too cold to really get into a panic about Luke being close to death. It _was_ there. Thrumming in a strange way right behind my ribcage. It was a very unpleasant feeling.

I wasn't sure what stage _I_ was in, but I didn't want to think about it or check. I wanted to get out of here.

I stumbled over to the pile of weapons and fumbled trying to get my bow and arrow, and unsheath my sword. After I'd achieved that I had another moment's pause, trying to remember what I was doing, where I was. When I did, I had to find the door again. My mental confusion was getting worse, which was not a good sign.

My hands were completely numb at this point. I struggled to notch an arrow and haphazardly aimed at the door. I only wanted to create weak points so I could smash through to the other side (if there _was_ another side), so aim wasn't paramount. I shot six arrows going in a zigzag down the length of the door.

I had another moment of confusion, where I couldn't remember why I was even doing this. I almost sat down and curled in on myself. Through the ice, if I concentrated hard enough, I could see myself. My lips were blue. Or maybe it was an illusion….

Something tugged at the back of mind. I looked down further and saw the three through the reflection. I needed…to get them out of here.

I grabbed my sword clumsily and, gripping the hilt with both hands, swung at the ice. It cracked. I had barely any strength left, but I kept swinging, each swing infinitely harder than the last. Finally, the ice collapsed into a heap. A blast of warm air hit me and I found it easier to breathe.

None of us were out of danger yet. I still had three unconscious bodies behind me in the severe stage of hypothermia. Also, the good news, there was an actual door, but the bad news? Like the ceiling in that other room, a stone was slowly lowering into the doorway.

I didn't have any energy left and I could still just barely function, but I threw my weapons through the open doorway before going back and carelessly throwing our packs and other weapons through the ever-shrinking door. My emotions ruled out logic in those last moments. I should've taken Molly, who was the smallest, then Dana, then Luke.

But I was so worried about Luke that I pulled him through first. I linked my arms under his armpits and struggled and stumbled toward the door. As soon as his feet cleared the doorway, I went back in for Molly. The rock was lowering at a steady pace. It was halfway down as I pulled Molly through. As I went back for Dana my gap was probably about two or three feet high.

Once again, I was still too cold to feel alarmed that I might not make it, but it was just that thrumming in my chest. I couldn't even make a noise of protest or struggle. My body was shutting down. I was shaking because of the cold and because of the effort. My breath came in painful gasps. My head was reminding me I'd gotten hit and probably had a concussion.

Dana had seemed to gain 100 pounds with every step I took. By the time I got the door, I had to drop Dana and crawl under before turning back and pulling her through. The lowering rock skimmed her ankles. Not wanting to cut off her feet, with the last of my strength I didn't have and black spots covering my vision, I gritted my teeth and pulled with all my might, falling backward, I'd pulled with so much force.

I heard the rock settle into place and managed to lift my head. No blood. I hadn't heard bones breaking. Dana still had her feet.

With a sigh of exhaustion and relief, I let my head fall back to the ground and closed my eyes. I wanted to check on them, I needed to protect them from what other horrors might be awaiting us, but I just couldn't find it in me. This place was much warmer. The blackness was starting to wash over me again, taking away the pain in my head, the shakiness of my limbs, the thrum of fear and panic in my chest….

When I woke again, the first thing I saw were bright, wintery blue eyes. I felt a smile pull at the edge of my lips.

I was sitting in Luke's lap. He was cradling me to his chest. We were, from what I could tell, in the same tunnel that I'd collapsed in after escaping from the hypothermia room.

Luke reached up to stroke my cheek with his thumb.

"You had me worried there for a second," he murmured. I examined his face. The color had returned. He seemed to be doing fine despite almost dying from hypothermia. I reached up and stroked my thumb across his lips. They weren't blue anymore. Also good.

"And your definition of _fine_ is vastly different than mine," I retorted in a small voice, retracting my shaking hand. It wasn't out of coldness, though. I just felt really weak. The pounding in my head was exponentially less, but I felt very warm and my ears buzzed. Too much nectar and/or ambrosia. The good news was that if I didn't spontaneously combust, I most likely didn't have a concussion from that blow to the back of my head anymore.

Luke gave me a crooked smile.

After helping me to my feet, we continued on. Dana and Molly were both fine and still alive. Dana had woken up first and checked the rest of us. Gave us ambrosia and nectar. The warmth of the tunnel had been good for getting our body temperatures back up to normal and functioning. Probably not in the best way, but we were demigods, we were resilient.

For a while, I had to lean on Luke, because I was just _that_ weak. Eventually, I managed to walk on my own with a slight wobble. We had to stop a few times and rest, let me catch my breath. I couldn't understand why I was the only one struggling so much, but no one commented on it.

The _dracaenae_ had reappeared. Brett hadn't.

* * *

I leaned against one of the walls in the dark stone chamber with my arms crossed, next to the corridor Dana had gone down, listening for any signs of danger. I was looking around at the room as Luke studied the map of the Labyrinth, with Molly, by one of the flashlights we'd packed. I didn't really see why we even tried to rely on the map anymore. Nothing in this Labyrinth made any sense. We'd fallen into so many traps, fought for our lives so many times, I was done. I was ready to find the juncture and get the string.

I was ready to see the sky, see sunlight again. Breathe fresh air. I was ready to not fear for my life every time I turned a corner.

I glanced at Luke and Molly, studying the map. I focused on Luke, who was intently concentrating.

But I wasn't ready to see Luke at Kronos. I would never be. If I wanted that sunlight and fresh air, I would also be giving up Luke…

I looked away, chewing on my lip, an ache forming in my chest. What was I even doing? Allowing himself to be used as a vessel for Kronos? If I claimed to love him so much, why was I letting him do this? It scared me that I didn't have an answer.

The good thing about the Labyrinth, there were no mirrors. I didn't have to see myself, the monster I'd become.

Luke cursed, bringing my attention back to him. "It should've been the last turn." His jaw tightened and he straightened up—forcing Molly, who was holding the flashlight, to stand and step back too—crumpling up the map and throwing it aside. He looked around the room in agitation.

"Sir!" she protested. It was always weird to me to hear the other demigods call him sir. Even after all this time.

"Maps or useless here," Luke finally said. "Don't worry. I'll find it." He flexed his fingers like they were cramping up from holding the map too long and turned away, looking down a dark hallway.

"Sir," Molly ventured in a small voice, "is it true that the larger the group—"

"The more likely you get lost?" He looked briefly over his shoulder at her before turning back to the doorway. "Yes, that's true. Why do you think we sent out solo explorers to begin with? But don't worry. As soon as we have the thread, we can lead the vanguard through."

"But how will we _get_ the thread?"

Luke turned and walked up to Molly. "Oh, Quintus will come through. All we have to do is reach the arena, and it's at the juncture. Impossible to get anywhere without passing it. That's why we must have a truce with its master. We just have to stay alive until—"

"Sir!" It was Dana's voice. She ran into the room with her torch. "The _dracaenae_ found a half-blood!"

I pushed away from the wall. Luke frowned.

"Alone?" he asked.

"Wandering the maze?" I tacked on.

"Yes, sir!" Dana answered dutifully. She stumbled in her speech and awkwardly turned toward me. "And, uh, ma'am."

"Oh, you don't have to…" I tried to object but she turned back to Luke, who gave me an amused look and a smirk before turning his attention back to Dana.

"You'd better come quick," she continued. "They're in the next chamber. They've got him cornered."

"Who is it?" Luke asked.

"No one I've ever seen before, sir."

Luke nodded. "We may be able to use this half-blood. Come!"

They ran down the corridor. I followed more slowly, only Luke came back and grabbed my hand.

"Come along," he said, smirking again, "ma'am." My face felt hot as he started running, pulling me along. I managed to catch up with him.

The half-blood's name was Ethan Nakamura, and he was a son of Nemesis. Upon first glance, he didn't look like much, kind of wiry but upon closer inspection, he was actually pretty well-muscled. He had short, unkempt black hair and an eye patch over his left eye. I wondered about it, but I didn't want to ask. It seemed rude.

Luke explained who he was and what he was doing, and Ethan became a new member of our small group. Well, he was more like a prisoner. He stayed at the back of our group with a _dracaena_ in front and a _dracaena_ behind. Just as well, though, because after what happened with Brett, I really wasn't too keen on allowing another into our group. It didn't help that we didn't even know him.

We continued our search for the juncture.

* * *

When I'd heard Kelli was going to be a part of the advanced team I was a little concerned. It wasn't just because she hated my guts (the feeling the mutual), but also because, next to Luke, Kronos asked Kelli to do a lot of things for him. Some of which had included trying to kill me or get me out of the picture.

Luke was nearing having to host Kronos. Even though I _thought_ the titan lord wouldn't try anything else, I was, on some level, expecting something at some point. Especially if it involved the Labyrinth because it was such an easy place to get lost and die.

When we finally did reach the juncture and obtain Ariadne's string, my bad feeling was confirmed. I liked being right—who doesn't?—but at this point, me being right only led to heartache. And pain, physically and emotionally.

Kelli's group had managed to find it before us. When we arrived Daedalus finally explained what the juncture was and handed Luke the string. (I liked to think he hadn't passed it over to Kelli because he didn't trust her.)

There was a set of large bronze doors, emblazoned with crossed swords. Beyond those doors was a decent-sized arena, with a dirt floor and seating that was raised at least twelve feet above the ground, made of stone. It belonged to a giant named Antaeus and we would need his permission to pass through his territory. To do that, we needed to provide him with entertainment. And I was starting to regret my decision to go into the Labyrinth for the millionth time since we'd first entered.

The nightmares I could handle. The traps were terrifying, but we'd managed to make it through them and find this place. But watching monsters and demigods slaughter each other for _entertainment_ was enough to make me want to turn back and find my way out of the maze without Ariadne's string.

But I'd made a promise to Luke. I couldn't go back on that now.

I already knew I was going to the Fields of Punishment. Might as well do it thoroughly….

Kelli used the string to bring back a majority of Luke's army to both watch and participate. She also brought prisoners. Once everything was situated the real horror began. I mean, the arena itself was horrible because of how it looked. It was decorated with skulls on pikes against the walls at the back of the stands and dangling from chains like chandeliers. Some were very old—just bone bleached white. Others…not so. A green banner with the trident of Poseidon hung on the spectator's wall, right smack in the middle, so you couldn't miss it.

Antaeus himself was a giant. Literally and figuratively. He stood at maybe 15 feet tall and took up three seats in the stands. He only wore a loincloth and his skin was a deep red, tattooed with blue wave designs. His presence was also very commanding and overbearing. He was used to being in charge. I couldn't blame him, seeing as you always had to cross his territory in the Labyrinth to get anywhere, but still…the whole watching people fight to the death for entertainment was really getting to me.

Luke got the honorary seat next to Antaeus and I was allowed the seat next to Luke.

I spent most of the time in soft-focus, trying to drown out the roar of the crowd and what was happening 12 feet below me. But that only meant I had to turn inward and I didn't really want to do that, either…

It wasn't until Kelli seemed to appear out of thin air—leaving her post outside the doors that led into the arena—right next to Antaeus. I was getting a bad feeling again. It was akin to the one I got when Brett had been "hurt" in that fog. It jolted me out of my haze, everything snapping into sharper focus again.

There wasn't anyone currently fighting in the arena. I looked over at Antaeus and Kelli. She was in _empousa_ form and trying to give Antaeus one her winning come-over-here-and-let-me-suck-you-dry-and-eat-your-flesh smiles she gave her victims. My bad feeling grew.

"I have an idea, to…spice up this arena a bit, Lord Antaeus," she said.

"Don't you have something you're supposed to be doing, demon?" Luke hissed.

Antaeus raised his hand for silence, not taking his eyes of Kelli. "Don't forget who is in charge here," he said in a dangerous tone. "I say let the _empousa_ speak."

Kelli's smile grew and she looked up momentarily to meet my eyes. My bad feeling grew and a stone formed in the pit of my stomach. She leaned down, then, to whisper something in Antaeus's ear. She'd turned her head so I couldn't see what she was saying.

I watched Antaeus's face, which lit up in interest and excitement. Finally, she pulled away. The giant turned toward Luke.

"I would like to make a request," he said.

"Lord Antaeus?" Luke asked carefully.

The giant's eyes shifted over to me and my heart dropped. "I want _her_ to fight in the arena next."


	28. Of Distant Dark Places

There was a brief moment of silence as Luke processed this. I sat back and took a deep breath, my brain also trying to make sense of this. What had just happened? I looked back over at Antaeus and noticed Kelli standing next to him, smiling smugly at me. I had to restrain myself from leaping up and throttling her.

"Is this a request I am allowed to decline, Lord Antaeus?" Luke asked carefully in a strained voice.

Antaeus grinned, but it had a twisted edge to it. "Ah, smart boy. You'll go far. And no, I will not let you pass my territory unless she"—he gestured to me—"fights next."

There was another moment of silence. Luke clenched his fist. I couldn't see his expression, however, because he was facing Antaeus.

I carefully reached forward and gently touched Luke's arm. Luke turned toward me with a pained, torn expression on his face. He shook his head almost imperceptibly.

"I'll do it," I found myself saying.

"Tori—" Luke started quietly, but Antaeus interrupted him.

"Excellent!" Anteaus's eyes glittered with violent excitement. He raised his hand and gestured for someone to come over to us. I looked over my shoulder to see two _dracaenae_ come down to where I was sitting. I looked back at Luke as I slowly stood up.

"This should be interesting," Kelli commented. Luke spun and glared at her.

"Back to your post, demon," he growled through gritted teeth. Kelli gave him an annoyed look before making her exit. Luke turned back to me, opening his mouth to say something.

"I'll be fine," I told him, cutting him off, before turning and following the snake women to the catacombs to prepare, not that I really needed to, though, honestly. My armor had become a second skin. I always had my sword at my side. I had a feeling having my bow and arrow along with my sword wouldn't be allowed. I was granted a shield, though.

It wasn't long before I was facing the doors that would lead me out to the arena, to the place where I'd have to fight for my life against other monsters and demigods—that stopped me short for a moment—for everyone else's amusement. But if I didn't do this, Luke wouldn't be able to complete his task for the titan lord and then I'd be killed. Of course, if I was killed, that meant Luke wouldn't have to host Kronos, but then Luke would have to live in a world without me, which he said he couldn't do….

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook off these thoughts. I couldn't dwell on them now. Not now, when focusing on the task at hand was of the utmost importance. I walked up to the doors, stopping a few feet away from them. The _dracaenae_ slither-walked off back into the catacombs, but not before mockingly wishing me well.

I could hear the roar of the crowd beyond the doors.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, centering myself. Suddenly, someone grabbed my wrist. I jumped and spun around.

"Luke."

He looked at me with wide eyes. It looked like he wanted to say something, but was having trouble doing so. Finally, he pulled me into him, putting his other arm around me, slipping one of his hands into mine.

"You don't have to do this. Don't do this," he whispered, holding me tightly to him, gripping my hand like a lifeline.

"I'll be fine," I repeated softly.

His grip tightened on me. "Please, don't do this."

I pulled back to look up at him. "I can do this, it'll be fine. I'm a skilled fighter—after all I was trained by the best." I gave him a crooked smile.

"And what if he sends out another demigod?" he asked in a dark tone. "Would you be able to kill them?"

I looked at him helplessly. I opened my mouth, no sound coming out, as I shook my head. Luke's eyes tightened. I saw everything, all the emotions rushing through him, flit through his eyes: pain, anger, sadness, helplessness…acceptance.

He stepped toward me again and took my hand.

"Then I'll follow you soon after," he said softly. I swallowed hard. I didn't know what to say. I didn't want him to follow me. But I supposed, if Antaeus did send out a demigod or if I didn't do as Antaeus wished and Luke wasn't allowed past his territory, those two scenarios ended one way: with me dead.

Aphorodite's words on that cold December night so long ago hit me: _It reminds me of_ Romeo and Juliet _._ I shook them off, not wanting to think about her ominous words delivered in such an upbeat way. Our lives didn't matter to the gods, we were just cheap, easy entertainment for their never-ending lives—disposable.

At least with this option, there was a chance that Anteaus wouldn't send out another demigod for me to fight and I could keep living.

I pulled Luke into me, wrapping my arms around his neck and holding him to me tightly. I closed my eyes and tried to force the tears away (I didn't want anyone in that arena to know that I'd cried right before I went out to fight). I inhaled his comforting, familiar scent—committing that to memory—and marveled at his warmth, the way his arms felt around me.

I would miss this. This closeness. Not just physically, either. I had enjoyed all our little moments aboard that ship and on Mount Tam where we danced or talked, when we pretended we weren't demigods, if only for a moment.

I didn't know what I was even doing anymore. If I did this, maybe I wouldn't die, but if I didn't, then Luke would then have to host Kronos. I was basically handing Luke over to the titan by doing this. My heart twisted in my chest at that thought. I felt more tears build up behind my eyelids and I held Luke closer to me, forcing down a sob.

I abruptly realized why May had attacked me when she'd fallen into one her fits. The pain in my chest increased.

I needed to focus right now.

Taking a deep breath, or trying to anyway with sobs and bile building up in my throat, I pulled away from Luke, blinking away my tears.

"I love you," I managed without falling apart and bursting into tears.

"I love you, too," he murmured before leaning forward and giving me a kiss. He gave me one last look after pulling back before he turned and walked back into the catacombs. I watched him go and turned back to face the doors when Luke had disappeared. I started taking deep breaths again, with my eyes closed, as I waited.

Finally, I heard the doors creak open. Light flooded into the dark chamber and the roar of the crowd become almost deafening. I opened my eyes and looked out across the arena before walking out with my shoulders back and my head held high. I wasn't going to let Kelli or Antaeus or any of them intimidate me.

I was also confident in my abilities. With Kronos trying to kill me and Kelli trying to make my life as miserable as possible and being on a ship filled with monsters I'd fought every single monster on that ship, from _dracaena_ to _empousa_ to the giants, even. I was prepared for almost anything Anteaus could throw at me. Even if he threw another demigod at me. I had a plan for what I was going to do if that were to occur.

I did fine with the first three monsters. It was when the giant came out did I falter a bit. Like I said, I'd had time to practice fighting all the monsters on the ship. But this giant was holding a javelin the size of a telephone pole.

I swallowed hard and prepared myself. This was going to be a little harder…

See, the only problem was because I'd just fought three other monsters. I was worn and tired and hadn't been allowed any kind of break. My spoils, or _trophies_ , were lying in a pile off to the side, as close to the wall as possible. I didn't want any reminders.

And, okay, that wasn't just the _only_ problem. I had a few problems, like the fact that I was fighting a giant and I was just me, a puny demigod. I only had a sword and shield and the giant had a huge javelin—one hit in the right place and I'd be good as dead. If I wanted to kill him, I'd have to look to Anteaus for approval, which wasted precious time on my part. Sure the bigger they were the harder they fell—wasn't that the saying?—but the giant could fake it and surprise attack me. If I did win, there was no guarantee that this was my last battle, either. There were just too many odds that were slowly stacking against me.

I forced myself to stop thinking about them, or more.

The crowd roared but I tried to block them out and focus on winning. Take it one battle at a time.

As the giant stepped forward, I felt my anxiousness start to rise. My sword and shield felt heavy in my hands. I had a feeling my swings would be slower, I would move slower, and I needed speed and agility if I was going to avoid his blows. My only hope was that he was slower than I was.

I steeled my nerves and stepped forward to meet my opponent.

The battle consisted of me, mostly weaving in and out of his legs, staying close to them, trying not to get hit and trying not to use up all my energy, as the crowd cheered on, screaming for blood. Whose blood, I wasn't sure.

As I had predicted, my swings were slower. At one point, I threw my shield aside because it was becoming too heavy for me. I'm still not sure if it was my smartest move or not.

Somewhere soon after my battle with the giant had started, movement caught my eye. I looked over to see the large bronze doors that led into the arena had been pushed open.

The nice thing about having ADHD was that I could still focus on the battle, but also see what was going on at the front of the doors.

As I dodged the giant's javelin and weaved through his legs, stabbing or slashing his ankles and feet, trying to find an opening so I could land a more fatal blow to somewhere like his stomach, I looked over at the doors.

I was surprised to see Percy standing there, looking in horror around the arena. I almost got hit with the javelin I was so shocked. I ducked and rolled, spinning around and landing a blow at the giant's ankle before dodging another swing from his weapon.

Behind Percy was Annabeth, being held by a different giant by the front of her shirt. There was also a different girl who I didn't recognize. She had frizzy red hair and bright green eyes. Her jeans looked like they had doodles on them from markers and sharpies. Her expression was scared and tense and I noticed Kelli had a clawed hand to her throat. The red-head didn't look like a demigod, really, and if she wasn't, what was she doing here? How did she even end up with Percy and Annabeth?

I met Kelli's eyes for a moment and she smirked.

I turned my full attention back to the fight, then. It seemed to be going okay, at least I hadn't died yet, until somehow one of my items from my other victories magically appeared behind me, tripping me up.

I hit the dirt hard, my sword flying out of my hand as I fell, not expecting it. I blinked hard and my vision cleared just as I saw a foot coming down on me. I quickly rolled away and struggled to my feet, keeping my eyes on the giant. I stumbled a little as I stood, but had enough of a mind to crouch low in case of an attack from his javelin.

I ducked as he swung and then frantically started searching for my sword, which was inconveniently sitting behind him. I looked back up at the giant. He grinned down, sensing his victory coming ever closer. I vaguely wondered what his trophy would be. My sword?

I ducked again as he swung his weapon at me. What I wasn't expecting as I straightened up was his other hand to come in and smack me. I hit the ground on my side hard. Pain radiated through my arm and I hoped I hadn't broken anything. Dazed and not exactly thinking straight—all I knew was I had to get up so he wouldn't step on me—I tried to get to my feet again.

The giant had learned because before I could even straighten up fully he swung his javelin at me. I was too slow to react. His weapon caught me in the chest and sent me flying backward into the arena wall. This time I knew I'd broken bones because I could feel them give way in my chest under all the pressure.

Acid seemed to wash through my whole body as I fell forward, unable to catch myself. I laid their gasping for breath, trying expel some of the fire within me. My whole body trembled. I knew I needed to move, but I couldn't find the strength. All I felt was pain.

My breath was gravelly and excruciating. Every time I inhaled and exhaled it felt like a thousand razor blades were grazing my throat and my lungs.

Something prodded me, turned me over onto my back. Through my blurry vision I saw what I think was the giant standing over me, grinning. I couldn't tell if the noise I heard was the ringing in my ears of the roar of the crowd as the giant placed a foot on me, holding me in place, causing more fiery pain to race through my body. My back arched as far as it could and my mouth opened in a silent scream. My cries got stuck in my throat. Tears flooded my eyes.

My breath was rapid and broken, still gravelly as I sunk back to the floor.

Was this it? Was this where I'd finally end? In a maze of horrors and nightmares, having been forced to fight in an arena? Even by my standards, I didn't want to go out like this.

When the pain had somewhat lessoned, at least enough that I could actually move again, I turned my head to look over at Luke and Antaeus just as the giant did.

It was hard to see through my tears and the blurry, fuzziness that was my vision, but I got glimpses when my vision did clear. Luke's eyes were pained. He stood at the edge of the wall, leaning over it, hands pressing up against the top. It looked like he wanted to jump down into the arena and finish off the giant himself, but was restraining himself. His promise to follow me echoed through my mind.

I don't know if it was because I was delirious or because I was in pain, but I found myself weakly reaching for him with one hand.

The torment and anguish in his eyes increased. I wanted to mouth "I love you" one last time. I managed to open my mouth when I noticed Antaeus, who was making a thumbs down gesture. The crowd was screaming, " _Death! Death!_ "

I turned my head back to look up at the giant. He raised his javelin. I took a deep breath in, despite the pain, and as I slowly let it out the giant struck down. Time seemed to slow and I watched as it moved toward me. At the last second, I shifted my head slightly to the right and the javelin struck the ground, a hair's breadth away from my face, brushing that small crook where my neck met my shoulders.

There was a small pocket where everything seemed to freeze. The crowd went silent and still. The giant gazed down at me confused, trying to process what had happened. I felt a burst of new strength rush through me and with it, pushing through the agony I felt, I grabbed the giant's foot and, using my whole body (I felt more bones in my chest give way), pushed him off of me, tilting him forward, toward his weapon.

I did this as quickly as possible. Not expecting the sudden movement or force, the giant's hands slipped from his javelin and he pitched forward, falling onto his own weapon. I spun myself away, pressing my body against the wall, crouching and hugging myself (gently), not wanting to be covered in monster ash.

I squeezed my eyes shut tight, willing my body to expel the pain I'd just inflicted upon it, having forced it move. I was shaking even more now. My breaths were shallow and short and still gravelly.

I coughed into my hand and pulled away to see bright red—punctured lung. My head swam and my vision started going dark. I fought to stay conscious. As far as I could tell, the crowd continued to stay silent.

I slumped against the wall, my legs giving out on me. I coughed again, more violently and blood covered my hand. The burning flared in my chest. I wiped my hand on my jeans, closing my eyes and trying to breathe as shallow as possible. It didn't stop the coughing.

I recognized Luke's voice, though I couldn't make out what he was saying. It was soft and quiet, persuasive. He did well at hiding his fear and panic. There were a few moments of silence and I must've blacked out momentarily because the next thing I knew, a warm had was caressing my face while the other gently turned me to face them, so that my back was now pressed against the arena's wall.

"Here, drink this," they said quietly, still caressing my face (but it was probably more to support my head), holding a canteen to my lips and tilting it back. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the blood in my mouth didn't taint the taste of the nectar. This time around it was my brother's homemade strawberry short-cake in a cup.

Luke pulled the canteen away just as I felt my skin grow warm. My breathing became stronger, my vision clearing. I no longer felt like I was inhaling razor blades. If my ribs weren't broken now, they were still bruised. It was better than being broken, so I wasn't complaining.

"Better?" Luke asked, setting the canteen down and holding my head in both hands.

"Better," I croaked. He kissed my forehead.

"You're definition of fine is vastly different from mine," he told me in shaky voice, giving me a wan smile. I managed a weak smile of my own before pulling him into a hug, wrapping my arms around his neck.

He was shaking, ever so slightly. My grip on him tightened.

"I'm okay," I whispered, tears filling my eyes. "I'm all right." Luke held me firmly to him for a long moment before finally, reluctantly pulling away. Without a word he put one of my arms over his shoulder and stood slowly, helping me to my feet. Together, we walked toward the doors that led into the catacombs.

* * *

We walked down the long corridor, underneath the swirling, grey clouds. The only sounds made were our footsteps. I'd faced so many things throughout my lifetime as a demigod, but this? This had to top everything as the most terrifying, nerve-racking, heart-pounding moment of my life.

I'd rested up in the catacombs, so I'd missed all the exciting things, like Percy fighting Anteaus—fighting and winning—and then escaping with the help of Daedalus's ginormous hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary. Luke had been upset about it, but we'd already acquired the string, so it hadn't upset him for very long. And with Anteaus gone, he didn't have to worry about gaining permission to pass through the giant's territory. I think he was more upset about the fact that I'd had to go through all that in the arena, only to have Percy come along and make it all for naught.

We stopped at the entrance and turned toward each other.

I wanted to say something to him, anything, but my throat closed up. Instead, I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down for a kiss. His arm came around my waist. When we broke, we were both breathing heavily. I didn't pull away very far, taking his head into my hands and resting my forehead against his.

"Remember what I said," I whispered, tears flooding my eyes, my voice shaking.

"I will," he whispered back. I pulled back to look into his blue eyes one last time, committing them to memory yet another time.

"I love you," I finally choked out. It was taking everything I had to not cry.

"I love you, too." Luke said.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

I took a breath, dropping my hands and taking a step back. I couldn't believe I was doing this. Letting this happen to someone I loved. Then again, this had also been Luke's choice. Still…there were so many things I could've done to prevent this. It was too late to think about this now, though my mind wanted to stay on these thoughts. As if I wasn't hurting enough.

With nothing more to say, I nodded once before turning and walking back down the corridor without a backward glance.

It wasn't until I got outside did I suddenly feel drowsy. I stumbled, just barely managing to catch myself. My head swam and everything swirled together with the clouds. I was only just realizing that I'd probably been hit with one of those blasted tranquilizer darts again as my vision started to fade. Dark blobs appeared in my field of vision, but by then it was much too late. I couldn't fight the drugs as my system shut down and my world went dark.

I jolted awake to come face to face with a telekhine. They were ugly from afar, but up close, they were even worse. Their faces looked like a dogs, with black snouts, brown eyes, and pointy ear. Their bodies were like a seals, covered in oil. Their legs were stubby and half-flipper, half-foot. The most disturbing part—to me—were their human-like hands with sharp claws.

I instinctively reached for my sword, which was shockingly still strapped to my waist. I could feel my dagger in its ankle strap too. I say this because my wrist were cuffed with Celestial bronze.

"What's going on?" I asked slowly, looking around. Well, I was still on Mount Tam. I mean, I hadn't really been sure where I was headed after I left Luke, but not here had been my only requirement, really.

"Did you honestly think you'd be able to get off so easily?" the telekhine barked, baring its fangs. I tried not to recoil. I wondered where Kelli was, not that I preferred to have her here, but she always seemed to be the one instigating these things—running errands for the titan lord.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

Another telekhine appeared on my other side, wrapping its clawed hand around my arm. I tried not to jerk away, afraid my arm would be sliced to ribbons. "You'll see in a moment." he growled with a twisted amused gleam in his eyes. The other telekhine grabbed my other arm and together they started to waddle me back up part of the mountain, toward a black marble fortress looming along the horizon, rising at least 50 feet into the sky. As soon as I saw it, I finally started struggling. My daze from being drugged fell away almost instantly. I went for my sword, even though it was going to be difficult and awkward to fight with my hands bound, but I supposed I could hold the hilt with both hands.

Both of the telekhines gripped my arms tighter, digging their razor sharp claws into my skin before I could reach my sword. I continued to try to pull away from them, nonetheless, and dug my heels into the ground.

"Now, now," the one on my left chided. "Don't be like that." His claws burrowed into my skin even more, drawing blood. I bit back a cry of pain.

"I am _not_ going up there," I objected, pulling harder, which only made them dig their claws in deeper.

"Either we take you alive or we knock you out again and drag you up there," the one on my right growled right back, and I mean literally growled.

I thought about this for a moment and decided I wanted to be conscious. As much as I didn't like this, I wanted to be awake and alert just in case I caught a break and managed to somehow escape. At least I still had my weapons (which was something I was still trying to figure out). I stopped struggling and glowered at the large, looming structure before us. The telekines continued and I unwilling followed.

After a few yards we met up with another group. Two more seal-dog-demons and Ethan Nakamura, who I was surprised to see. All three of them were leaning over something long and thin wrapped in a black cloth that was resting on a large rock. My arms were starting to really sting. By this point, there were thin streaks of dried and fresh blood down my arms.

"Careful, fool," Telekhine Three scolded. "One touch, and the blade will sever your soul from your body."

Ethan stepped back, his hands flying away from the object. "Maybe I'll let you unwrap it, then."

We got to the other group just as the telekhines finished unwrapping the thing. A chill ran down my spine and my heart stopped as Telekhine Four held up the weapon, exclaiming, "There!"

A scythe with a six foot-long blade that was curved like the crescent moon. The wooden handle was wrapped in leather and the blade was the steel and bronze Luke's sword had been.

"We must sanctify it in blood," said the same telkhine. I didn't like the sound of that. I was about to start backing away when Ethan decided to notice me.

"Hey," he said, acting casual.

"…hi," I replied slowly.

He seemed to notice the blood. His dark eyebrows furrowed. Before he or I could say anything else Telekhine Two ran his claw over the length of my upper forearm, easily slicing it open. I let out a cry of surprise and pain as Telekhine One pushed me forward, toward the scythe. Telekhine Four grabbed the chain of my handcuffs and held my arm over the blade of Kronos's weapon.

The cut wasn't deep, but it was deep enough to make my arm bleed. More. As the blood hit the blade, it sizzled and then seemed to melt into the blade itself. When the telekhine thought I'd given a sufficient amount of blood, he let go of my chain. I stumbled backward. The Telekhine One and Two took hold of my arms again. They didn't seem concerned about my several open, bleeding wounds.

Ethan looked paler than he had when we first arrived.

"Let us present this to the titan lord," Telekhine Three said. And together, we started toward the fortress again. It always amazed me how something so pitch black could even house light. I felt like something this dark would just suck the light out of anything.

Our footsteps echoed as we walked through the foyer. When we entered the main hall, my eyes did a sweep of the room out of habit. Lining the sides of the room were statues of the Titans made with the same black marble this building was constructed from. At end of the room stood Kronos's golden coffin on a dais, between two bronze braziers. Instead of the dread or fear, unexpected hatred boiled inside me at the sight of it.

But something was wrong…

"What happened?!" Telekhine Four shrieked. The lid to the coffin was now on the floor.

"Careful!" Telekhine Three admonished in a lower voice. "Perhaps he stirs. We must present the gifts now. Immediately!"

The two shuffled forward to the coffin and held up the scythe on the black wrapping cloth.

"My lord," one of them spoke. "Your symbol of power is remade."

I held my breath for a moment but nothing happened. I exchanged a glance with Ethan.

"You fools," Telekhine Two muttered. "He requires the half-blood first." I would've been concerned, but the monster had gestured toward Ethan, who looked back and forth between the four telekhines, taking a step away.

"Whoa, what do you mean, he requires me?"

"Don't be a coward!" Telekhine Three hissed. "He does not require your death. Only your allegiance. Pledge him your service. Renounce the gods. That is all."

"No!" a different voice yelled suddenly. I jumped and turned my head in the direction it'd come from. I knew that voice. Footsteps pounded the floor and suddenly Percy materialized out of nowhere, a blue Yankees cap in his hand—Annabeth's invisibility cap!

"Ethan, don't!" Percy continued.

"Trespasser!" The telkhines, all four of them, growled at Percy. Telekhine Four continued, "The master will deal with you soon enough. Hurry, boy!"

"Ethan," Percy grabbed the one-eyed son of Nemesis's attention. "Don't listen to them. Help me destroy it."

_It._

Ethan turned to face Percy so I could no longer read his facial expression, but Percy's expression said it all.

"I told you not to spare me, Percy." Ethan said. "'An eye for an eye.' You ever hear that saying? I learned what it means the hard way—when I discovered my godly parent. I'm the child of Nemesis, Goddess of Revenge. And this is what I was made to do." He then faced the dais. "I renounced the gods! What have they ever done for me? I will see them destroyed. I will serve Kronos."

The whole building rumbled. I watched as a wisp of blue light emerged from the floor at Ethan's feet. It flew toward the coffin. It hovered above it and shimmer for a moment before dropping like a stone into the sarcophagus.

I jolted, even though I knew what was coming, as Luke bolted upright. My throat closed and my stomach dropped. I finally, fully realized why they'd brought me here. I had wanted to be as far away as possible when this happened, and they were making sure that's not what I got.

When he opened his eyes, they were no longer the blue I knew anymore. They were gold. My months of nightmares, of his cold face, cruel smile and golden eyes…had finally come true. I felt a sob build up in my throat.

He leaped from the coffin easily. Where his feet touched, the marble froze, ice shooting out like he was walking on thin ice.

His eyes wandered around the room, taking in Ethan, the telekhines. They paused on me and a smile of recognition formed on his features. His eyes then went to Percy and the smile grew wider.

When he spoke, I cringed. It was Luke's voice, but underneath that lay something more powerful and ancient. The sound reminded me of the collapsing ceiling in the Labyrinth—rock scraping against rock. Only this was ten thousand times worse.

"This body has been well prepared." His eyes flickered back to me again briefly before going back to Percy. A surge of anger rushed through me. He was mocking me. I would've pulled my sword on him had I not been handcuffed or had he not been invincible. "Don't you think so, Percy Jackson?" Kronos continued.

Percy didn't answer, he seemed too stunned to.

Kronos threw his head back, letting out a laugh. I was suddenly reminded of the time on the canoe lake when Percy had first shown up at camp, so many years ago. The wind blowing through the trees, carrying Luke's laugh toward me. I blinked, coming out of that flashback.

"Luke feared you," the titan said. "His jealousy and hatred have been powerful tools. It has kept him obedient." He paused. "Well… mostly obedient." His eyes went back to me. More anger surged through me. And honestly, I was surprised. I thought seeing Luke like this would break me, however, it seemed to be doing the opposite. I wasn't sure where this anger was coming from, but it was better than the alternative. Kronos turned back to Percy. "For that, I thank you."

It was then that the telekhines and Ethan decided to all collapse. Well, the telekhines fell to their knees in terror, while Ethan just plain collapsed. It had been so in sync, I had to wonder if they'd rehearsed it. I wasn't sure if my two guard dogs letting go of my arms was a good or bad thing quite yet, though. It would still be awkward to fight with bound wrists. Also, again, Luke had taken on the Curse of Achilles for this. My sword wouldn't hurt him.

The two holding the scythe, held it higher as if that would appease Kronos more.

Percy seemed unable to move as he gazed at Luke—Kronos.

Kronos went over to Telekhine One and Two, who were cowering, but holding up his scythe.

"Ah…much better," he said. "Backbiter, Luke called it. An appropriate name. Now that it is re-forged completely, it shall indeed _bite back_."

"What have you done to Luke?" Percy managed. It seemed he was still having trouble moving. I wasn't sure if it was because Kronos was working some kind of magic on him or he was just so stunned and shocked, he _couldn't_ move. If it was the latter, I knew the feeling.

"He serves me with his whole being, as I require." Kronos said, raising his scythe, eyeing the blade. "The difference is"—he looked at Percy—"he feared you, Percy Jackson. I do not."

Kronos then turned his gaze on me and I felt my heart drop. My head spun, but that could've been because I was still bleeding.

"Hello, Victoria," Kronos greeted, walking toward me. I couldn't move or speak. My heart felt like it, too, was slowing down in my chest, beating against my ribcage painfully. The two telekhines beside me pressed themselves lower to the floor. Kronos smiled, just like in my dreams. Tears stung my eyes.

Suddenly, his scythe came at me. I had just barely enough time to register this before the blade got to me. I jumped not even having time to close my eyes, expecting excruciating pain. What I got was no pain and the sound of chains falling to the floor. I opened my eyes and looked down. He'd cut off my chains.

Despite knowing it wouldn't do me any good, I stepped away from Kronos, my hand going to the hilt of my sword.

"Go ahead," Kronos taunted. "Try and fight me. I've been waiting for two years to finally kill you." He paused. "Or, pledge your allegiance to me and I _might_ spare you."

I thought about this, my grip tightening on my sword. I felt that anger well up inside me again. I _wanted_ to fight him. I wanted him to pay for everything he'd put me and Luke through. But looking at him, his face, his eyes, I realized that's what he wanted me to do. So I didn't give him what he wanted. I chose option C.

I let go of the hilt of my sword and straightened, squaring my shoulder and raising my chin, meeting his eyes evenly. I did not bow. I did not pledge myself to him. I didn't fight either.

"Very interesting," Kronos commented before lifting his scythe. I looked at it briefly, fighting all the instincts that told me to defend myself or run, and sucked in a breath. I forced my gaze to meet Kronos's again. I tried to take away the shadow that had been thrown across Luke's face. I brought forth the memory of his blue eyes and tried to see _Luke_ again. One last time…

Percy decided at that moment to attack. I let out a grunt of protest but was too late. Percy's sword glanced off Kronos's shoulder. Kronos lowered his scythe and turned to face Percy. They exchanged a look right before Kronos flicked his hand and Percy went flying backward into a pillar.

He turned back to me. "The gods must have it in for you. He just saved your life. For now."

Kronos faced Percy again as he got to his feet, but he looked dazed.

"Would you like to try again?" Kronos asked, gripping his scythe.

There was a beat before Percy took off, toward the exit. Only, suddenly he seemed to freeze. Looking closer, I realized, not freeze, he had just slowed down so much that it looked like he'd frozen.

"Run, little hero," Kronos laughed. I looked back at him in shock and horror. Now I was starting to feel the dread and fear. "Run!" The titan started strolling toward Percy, swinging his scythe, a wicked smile on his face. I wasn't quite sure what I could do here, so I did what I thought would be best. I stepped in front of Percy and unsheathed my sword.

Kronos faltered, only slightly.

"You're a foolish girl," he growled. I braced myself for an attack. Sure, I might only be delaying Percy's death by a few seconds. Even so, a few seconds was all it took…

" _Percy!_ "

A girl's voice I didn't recognized. Something flew past Percy and me and hit Kronos right in smack in the eye. He stumbled back and yelled, "Ow!" his eyes turning back to their blue again. My heart jumped painfully in my chest when I saw his eyes and heard Luke's voice and only his voice. He was still in there.

"Luke?" That was Annabeth. I turned to see Annabeth, Nico and a red-headed girl standing in the entry hall. "What—" Annabeth tried to continue but Percy, having been freed from Kronos's power, ran past all three of them, grabbing the front of Annabeth's shirt as he passed and dragging her with him.

I paused, not sure if I should follow.

Percy glanced back briefly. "You coming!" he yelled. I sheathed my sword and sprinted after them. I was half-way toward what looked to be a cave entrance when I heard Kronos's voice command, " _AFTER THEM!_ "

Nico yelled, "No!" and clapped his hands together. I chanced a glance back to see a jagged spire of rock about the size of an eighteen-wheeler erupt from the ground in front of the fortress. The front columns collapsed, muffled screams coming from inside. Dust billowed out.

It was in that moment did I realize I had a chance at something good for once. I was free. Now that Kronos held no leverage over me or Luke, I could do whatever I wanted. Also, Kronos seemed a bit preoccupied at the moment. It was a crazy idea—absolutely _insane_ —but if it worked, Camp Half-Blood might not be invaded. As Percy and his friends plunged into the cave entrance, I started in a different direction, toward where I knew the army had gathered for the invasion.

I was going to steal Ariadne's string.


	29. Take this Sinking Boat and Point it Home

I burst into the group of monsters and demigods panting and still bleeding. I looked for Kampê, which wasn't hard to do seeing as she was about as tall as the giants and half-human, half-dragon with hair like Medusa and large wings that drove back the monsters and demigods in this group several feet. Not to mention the odd monster belt-like thing happening around where her human half met her dragon half.

I tried to look outraged and shocked.

"What are you all doing, standing around?" I barked. "We're going into the Labyrinth right now and you're not even ready!" I gestured to a demigod who was readjusting the straps of his breastplate. "Oh, come on, now, you should've done that hours ago!"

Kampê came forward then, the group parting like the Red Sea for her. I tried not to back away or cringe as she got closer to me. I was afraid I wouldn't understand her in her ancient tongue, but the words seemed to translate for me magically.

_On whose orders?_

"On Kronos's, of course," I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest and rolling my eyes, despite how nervous I felt. I only had so much time before Kronos regained his senses and came _here_. Then I'd be done for. "I _am_ still his second-in-command."

Kampê laughed, which sounded like a thousand knives on a chalkboard. I flinched.

_You left before he could reform fully. You're lying._

I swallowed hard but didn't let my fear show as the monsters and demigods in the crowd shifted and readied their weapons.

"Wrong," I announced in the most arrogant voice I could muster considering the circumstances. "I have pledged myself to Kronos. I am still his second-in-command. And he told me that we are going into the Labyrinth _now_. That is, unless you'd like to _question_ his orders—"

Kampê cut me off quickly.

_So long as he has kept his word: I lead the invasion._

"Of course," I shrugged. "Better pull out the string and get it ready though, because when Kronos arrives, he's going to want to head straight into the Labyrinth."

Kampê seemed to think that was logical and I watched in horror as she held her hand out next to her monster belt. It morphed into a lion's head and out of its mouth came a glittering ball of thread. Just in time, too, because from the other side of the room burst forth a telekhine. Probably one of the ones I'd seen when Kronos fully reformed. The dog demon was panting and covered in dust. All eyes turned toward him, including Kampê's. Before he could say anything, I snatched the ball of thread from Kampê's hand and made a mad dash the way I'd come in.

Behind me I heard outraged cries and yells. Worst of all, Kampê's shriek of rage. I pushed myself, dodging projectiles as best I could and only just barely made it outside on the mountain. From there, I kept sprinting.

Throughout all this, I'd completely forgotten a small detail about the pervious jailor: she could fly. She landed right in front of me, blocking my path. Her two swords, dipped in poison were unsheathed. I came to a screeching halt, clutching the ball of thread to my chest, keeping my eyes on Kampê's swords.

_Nice try, little half-blood._

I gripped Ariadne's string in my hand and glared up at her defiantly. That was the reason this had been such an insane plan. I hadn't thought it through entirely, so here I was facing my death because I'd forgotten this monster could fly. At least I would die actually doing something good. All this time I had been with Luke, watching him be used by Kronos without being able to do anything about it at all because I couldn't get myself to leave Luke that way. I had been, for the most part, a passive spectator, just sitting around and letting things happen.

Finally, I had a chance to do something _right_ and _good_. Okay, so maybe I was going to die. But if I did, maybe Luke would have the strength to get rid of Kronos for good. I hadn't taken that small moment he'd come back lightly. He was still in there, very much alive. Of course, me dying wouldn't save my home like I'd thought, but at least I'd tried.

Home.

That seemed to do something to the ball of thread in my hand. It jerked away from me with such force I almost fell forward trying to keep my hold on it. Just as well, though, because as I did so one of Kampê's swords flew over my head. I managed to dodge as her other one came my way, the ball of thread still pulling me to the left.

Maybe the Fates liked me. Or hated me.

I skirted around Kampê's left leg, just out of reach of the snakes writhing and snapping at me. Kampê turned, hissing and swinging her swords. With my back to her, I had to listen for the whistle as her swords sliced through the air and move accordingly. After a few swipes she decided to fly up and block my path again. I feigned left and went right, but I had already wasted enough time. Behind her I could hear the roar of angry monsters and demigods who'd finally got their act together and understood what had happened.

That either meant Kronos had recovered too, or they were acting on their own spite. I preferred the latter and considering the fact that I was still moving in real time, I figured maybe he hadn't just yet gathered his bearings. No doubt, I was running out of time.

I continued running, following where the thread was pulling me. If I was going to make it to wherever the thread was taking me, however, I needed to disable Kampê for the time being.

I chanced a glance behind me and noticed the monsters shifting and sizzling around her waist. If she could put things _in_ there, maybe I could too. Without breaking my stride, I reached down to grab my dagger from its sheath. I may not have been a knife thrower and this may not have been the proper knife for throwing, but it was in this moment I was really glad I was a daughter of Apollo because we had impeccable aim.

I looked back again. I had to time this just so. When her lion appeared I stopped running and fought the urge turn around, only watching her over my shoulder. Kampê came closer and the lion roared. I chose that moment to spin around with my arm outstretched, using my momentum to launch the dagger, tip facing the jailor, straight at that weird belt-like thing. It shot through the air like an arrow and lodged itself right in the lion's maw. Its roar cut off and Kampê shrieked.

It was a horrific sound, but I focused on home again and the thread pulled me further down the mountain. By this point, the army had nearly caught up. Spears and arrows whistled past me and I continued to run…straight into a wall of rock. I let out a gasp and groaned, coming to a stop, panting. I looked behind me. The roar of Kronos's army grew louder, but I couldn't see them. Yet. I looked back at the wall of rock before me, desperately trying to figure out why the thread had led me here.

Then I remembered how we'd gotten into the Labyrinth the first time and started searching the rocks for the mark of Daedalus. I found it, pressed my fingertips to it and it started to glow just as I heard a telekhine bark, "There!"

"Kill her!" a _dracaena_ hissed.

The side of the mountain rumbled, small pebbles and rocks raining down on me as a small door started to slide open. I glanced back at the gaining monsters and narrowly missed being impaled by a spear. I looked back at my escape route that was now big enough for me to fit through. I turned and ducked inside. The door started to close again and I hoped beyond hope that it wouldn't let any monsters through. An arrow pierced my right shoulder and I stumbled, almost face-planting into the stone floor, but managed to keep upright.

I kept running, daring to look back. All I saw was darkness. I didn't hear any pursuing footsteps either or outraged yelling. Still, I wasn't going to risk it. I faced forward, thought of Camp Half-Blood and let the string guide me.

Now that I was actually in the Labyrinth a thin bronze thread had appeared, almost like a laser beam, coming from Ariadne's string. It also glowed, as Celestial bronze did, helping me see a bit better in the dim tunnels.

I didn't stop running until I turned a corner and almost got sliced in half by two giant axes from behind and in front of me that had swung from the wall simultaneously. I yelped and stopped as they swung back and forth, a few more in front of the one directly in front of me coming out of the wall as well.

As it was, the axes had cut off the tip and end of the arrow still lodged in my shoulder, reminding me it was there. I was tempted to take the shaft out but I was already bleeding, I didn't need to be bleeding even more.

I looked behind me. Still no signs of pursuit. I looked ahead, the golden thread unaffected by the axes, leading me forward and disappearing into darkness. The axes were swinging at different speeds and some went into the wall, disappearing completely, before coming back out again at an alarming speed.

Well, this was going to be fun.

* * *

I wasn't sure how long I'd traveled or how far I'd gone, but I was starting to feel breathless and a bit lightheaded. I'd ripped my shirt apart to bandage my wounds, to stem the bleeding, but I was also hungry and thirsty. Another reason why this plan had been insane. I hadn't prepared _at all_ for going back into the Labyrinth.

Even so, if I died here, at least Kronos wouldn't have Ariadne's string. He wouldn't be able to invade Camp Half-Blood. That was my only consolation.

The ball of thread gave another tug when I thought of my home. I let out a half-sigh, half-groan and started forward again. The thread turned around a corner so I took it slow, having learned my lesson.

I was expecting another trap or possibly a monster. What I wasn't expecting was a familiar face.

I sucked in a sharp breath and veered back as he pulled his sword on me and brought the tip underneath my chin. I gripped the ball of thread to me and walked back as he pressed me, trying to fight the urge to unsheath my own sword.

"You double-crossed me!" he snapped, pressing the blade deeper into my throat. I breathed shallowly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I told him. He pressed his sword further.

"Do you take me for a fool, young demigod?" I didn't know where all this anger was coming from, but I tried to ignore the sword at my throat and met his eyes.

"I swear to you, I don't know what you're talking about," I told him in a solemn voice.

The pressure didn't let up. "What are you doing here?" he finally asked in a hard voice. His giant black hellhound was behind him and so was another monster I didn't recognize. His face morphed in a strange way that wasn't human. He also had at least 100 arms, sticking out from his chest, all around his body in rows. My eyes went back to Daedalus, who was waiting for an answer.

I flashed the ball of thread. "I stole this. I was taking it to Camp Half-Blood."

Daedalus seemed surprised. His blade finally pulled away from my neck, but he kept it up and pointed toward me.

"How do I know I can trust you?" he asked, gazing at me with eyes full of suspicion. "How do I know _you're_ not leading Kronos's army?"

That was when I made the second most insane move of my life. I tossed the ball of thread at him. He grabbed it easily.

"Take it back," I told him. "I have no use for it." That was a lie.

Daedalus eyed me warily, looking up and down the corridors, as if waiting for the sound of an army. After a few moments of silence Daedalus looked back at me.

"It would seem the Fates are watching you closely," he commented darkly. "I was heading back to Camp Half-Blood as well."

I wanted to think it was coincidence, meeting him like that, but there were no such things as coincidences. Not in the life I lived. That also meant that the string was leading me in the wrong direction if we'd crashed into each other. I didn't think the string didn't work, so it must have been leading me to him for some reason. That's also when I realized it's why Daedalus had made that comment about the Fates. I wasn't sure I was comforted by this.

Daedalus studied the ball of thread.

"I'm assuming this means you have not pledged yourself to Kronos," he said, looking at me through the corners of his eyes. I looked away, remembering when I'd first seen him. His cold, golden eyes. That cruel smile. Luke…

"No," I replied, my voice a little ragged. I clenched my hands into fists and reigned in my emotions, looking back at Daedalus. "No, I haven't."

"Very well," Daedalus tossed the thread in the air. "Let us return to Camp Half-Blood, shall we?" He gave me a lopsided smile and caught the thread. For some reason, that made me want to smile. I almost felt better.

Almost.

* * *

I was introduced to Briars, the Hundred-Handed One. Daedalus told me what happened in his shop, how Kelli had come with King Minos and Nico and some other monsters to kill him. I told him I had no idea that Kronos had planned on double-crossing him.

He told me he was going back to camp to help fight the army (which wasn't needed now) and also that he realized something else from talking with Annabeth—from one child of Athena to another. Much like me, he was going to correct a mistake. Much like Briars, too, I would learn.

Briars told me how he'd been held captive by Kampê, how he was rescued by Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson and how Tyson had helped him realize something.

It wouldn't be until later did I realize we didn't encounter any monsters and traps while we'd made our way through the Labyrinth. And I had to wonder if it was because it knew its creator well and didn't want to harm him. It made me kind of sad to think about that, too. That it had becoming this living thing that Daedalus had created. And now, he was going to destroy it.

We lapsed into silence for a while.

"Have you thought about what I said?" the old inventor asked suddenly. I looked up from the ground to see him looking at me.

I had to think about that for a long moment. There had been so many meetings with him before all this had transpired. I mean, I hadn't talked much one-on-one with him during those meetings, so that helped narrow it down.

"Oh, you mean telling the people back at camp why Luke…" I trailed off, unable to finish.

Daedalus looked forward. "Yes, that would be what I mean."

Had I thought about it? It had haunted me since he first brought it up. I was just so afraid of what they'd say. Or do. I didn't want to be rejected from my home. I'd have nowhere to go after that. Assuming the guilt didn't lead me to find a way to die and make it look like Kronos had been responsible. If Luke was still in there, surely my death would jolt him enough to consciousness. And he knew where his Achilles's heel was. Maybe if he struck that, Kronos would no longer be a problem?

"I don't know how I'd tell them," I finally said softly.

"Tell them the truth," Daedalus said. Yeah, easier said than done. "Tell them…the whole story, from start to finish."

"You really think that'd help?" I asked.

Daedalus shrugged. "With the gods, who really knows?" He looked at me with a small smile and winked. His eyes twinkled with a kind of mischief. And even though I wasn't too thrilled with his answer, his wink and smile made me smile.

A few paces more and we slowed to stop. The inventor stepped up to part of the wall and pressed his fingertip over small part of it. The mark of him glowed in the darkness and the rocks shifted and opened. I was hit with a blast of fresh air and saw a familiar forest through the small rectangle. I almost cried at the sight of blue skies. Light poured into the corridor.

I looked at Daedalus, who had stepped back. He handed me Ariadne's string again and motioned to the open doorway.

"After you," he said.

* * *

I looked back out the door, took a deep breath and marched outside into the sunlight. The tension in the clearing was thick, pulled taught like a bow's string. I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the sunlight and looked around the clearing. It was an impressive military operation, I had to admit. It wouldn't have been enough facing Kronos's army, but it was still impressive.

The whole camp was there, dressed in full battle armor. Surrounding Zeus's Fist were traps of razor wire, pits filled with—I assumed—Greek fire, rows of sharpened stick to deflect charge. Further out, there were two catapults about as big as pick-up trucks aimed at basically where I was standing currently. The Ares cabin was nearest to me, in a phalanx, shields locked. In the woods, scattered around were children of Apollo and Hermes with bows. Some were in trees. I even saw dryads with bows. Satyrs were with them, carrying wooden cudgels and shields made with rough tree bark.

Something flashed in the corner of my eye and I looked to see a grey banner with an owl, fluttering outside of a tent of the same color as the banner. I recognized the blond hair of the camp's security chief, Argus, standing at the door to the tent.

"Tori!" Percy called. I looked over just as he ran up to where the traps began. Clarisse yelled at him, but he ignored her, as usual. The green-eyed son of Poseidon stared at me in stunned disbelief. Chiron trotted up next to him. He wore his poker face, so I couldn't get a read on him.

"Daedalus!" a different voice called—Annabeth. I looked over my shoulder to see the old inventor emerge with Briars and Mrs. O'Leary. When I looked back at Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Nico had joined him and Chiron.

"What—?" Percy started. I smiled and held up Ariadne's ball of thread before throwing it to him. He just barely managed to catch it.

The Hephaestus kids disabled some of the traps to create a path that Daedalus, Briars, Mrs. O'Leary, and I could get through to join the rest of the camp. The campers and satyrs and dryads all gathered around as we came through, wanting to hear how _this_ had come about, but Chiron said, "I think it would be wise to gather the council and have a meeting."

"We can use the tent," Annabeth suggested. "Percy, gather the counselors. I'll go clear out the tent." Percy didn't seem to hear her at first, he was still staring at the ball of thread, but nodded after a moment and headed off.

I followed Chiron and Annabeth over to Athena's command tent. The kids who were inside shuffled out and Argus held the tent flap open for the war council, letting it flutter closed when we were all through.

Inside was a large, square table with a map (covering the whole table top) of the clearing and markers for where the traps were, the catapults, the other campers. Pencils and a compass laid over in a corner of the map. The counselors (Katie, Castor, Clarisse, Silena, Travis and Connor, Beckendorf, Lee, and of course, Annabeth and Percy), me, Chiron, Grover, Tyson, Daedalus, Briars and Nico gathered around the table. Mrs. O'Leary had to stay outside.

"Why don't we start from the beginning?" Chiron suggested as Percy, who was standing across from me, set the ball of thread on the table.

So I told them what had happened, beginning from when Kronos had risen. Daedalus interjected once to tell them why he had shown up, and then I finished my story, how we'd traveled here together.

"So…there's _not_ going to be an invasion, then?" Clarisse asked. Her eyes were locked on me, glaring. Then again, so were just about everyone else's. I couldn't blame them.

"No," I replied.

"However," Daedalus said. "Even without the string, I have no doubt they will find a way here eventually."

I almost sagged with defeat. All that, only to have someone tell me—the creator of the Labyrinth, no less—that what I'd done had only just delayed Kronos's army.

"We have the string," Annabeth commented. "Someone could…go back in and lure the army back into the Labyrinth."

"And then, Nico, here, can take my soul," Deadalus put in, meeting Annabeth's eyes, on the same page as her. "That should delay the titan for a while. And it won't allow him use of the Labyrinth ever again."

"Wait, time out," Conner said, holding up his hands. "Who's going to go back in?"

There was an uncomfortable pause as people exchanged glances.

And that's when I made the third most insane decision of my life.

"I will," I said. "I'll go back in."

"What?" Percy asked, incredulously.

"Well, it doesn't look like anyone else wants to go in," I explained. "I've got nothing to lose. I'm the one who stole the string in the first place. If they see me, taunting them, they'll follow me even if Kronos realizes it's a trap."

"You'll be crushed, too, then." Percy objected. I glared at him over the table.

"I don't care," I snapped. "I don't think anyone else here really cares, either."

"Now, Tori…" Chiron started.

"Look," I interrupted, looking down at the table. "I'll go back in. I'm willing to make the sacrifice. What more is there to say?"

"There's got to be another way," Percy said. "At least, a way that you make it out of this."

"Why are you so keen on saving my life?" I questioned.

"Because you proved to me that you're on our side." he replied. "Not with the string, though, I have to admit that was brave. It was when you defied Kronos. You could've given in and pledged yourself to him, but you didn't." I had a feeling he was saying this more for the counsel to hear than for me to.

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Neither was anyone else.

"How are we even supposed to know that you've made it," Percy continued, realizing that no one was going to say anything else. "Time works differently in the maze, right? So how would we even know you're in there? How would we know if you managed to get Kronos's army in there?"

"He's right," Beckendorf said. He had his massive arms crossed over his chest and was staring intently at the map of the clearing. "It's too dark down there for an Iris Message. Even if we could use phones, I don't know that the Labyrinth gets great service."

"Lead them back here, then," Annabeth said. She got some looks and some started objecting but she held up her hands for silence. "It's not the greatest option, but it's better than guessing. We're already set up here for an attack. If we can seal the entrance before too many of them get through, then Nico can take Daedalus's soul. The Labyrinth will collapse on the army and whatever's left aboveground we'll handle. Tori should be able to make it out"—she spit this through her teeth, glaring at Percy—"and it'd be safer than releasing Kampê and a bunch of other monsters on innocent people."

"All right," Percy said, apparently oblivious to Annabeth's anger. "If that's settled, then I'm going with Tori."

"No!" Both Annabeth and I exclaimed simultaneously.

"You're going to be needed here," I said quieter. "I can do this on my own."

Percy scoffed. "You're bleeding from both arms and you've got an arrow sticking out of your shoulder. You're in no condition to be going _at all_."

I put my hands on my hips and shifted from foot to foot, rolling my eyes. Why did this kid have to be so stubborn? I glanced at Annabeth and saw her silently fuming. Stubborn and oblivious.

"Well, I'm sure with a little ambrosia and nectar I'll be fine." I rebutted.

"I can take care of that," Lee said, going over to the door, sticking his head out and calling over Will Solace. Percy and I had a stare-off.

"I still think _someone_ should go with you," Percy finally said.

"Why don't we vote," I told him, as Lee returned with Will, who was holding a baggie of ambrosia and a canteen of nectar, as well as a first aid kit. As he set the things down on the table and started unwrapping my makeshift bandages from my arms I said, "I go alone. All in favor?" Slowly hands among the counselors raised. Percy's expression became more and more incredulous as more and more hands went up.

"All right—" I broke off and winced, forcing back a scream when Will decided at that point to pull out the shaft of the arrow from my shoulder. "…majority rules. I go alone." I looked at Percy. "You stay here to help when I bring the army."

"There's still no guarantee that this will work," Percy objected. I could almost hear the desperation in his voice. I thought it odd how much he cared about my life. I mean, we had such a complicated relationship and yet he still chose to help me. Why? "We can't wait out here twenty/four seven in hopes she'll come out. What if you got caught by Kronos? What then?"

"It's already been settled, Percy—" Annabeth started, but I cut her off, glaring coldly at Percy.

"Twenty-four hours," I said. "Give me twenty-four hours. At this time tomorrow, if I don't show up with the army, collapse the Labyrinth. If Kronos captures me and gets the string back, he won't be able to use it. If I hadn't managed to go back in time, no one gets the string or can use the Labyrinth. Best case scenario, I get a good chunk of his army into the Labyrinth and it collapses on top of us. No one gets the string, no one can use the Labyrinth, and you've taken care of a majority of the titan's army."

For once, Percy had nothing to say, but he looked pretty angry about all of it—the decision, my explanation. Will offered me a piece of ambrosia and I gratefully took it. It tasted like my mom's virgin piña colada cupcakes.

"I would like a new shirt, dagger and a bow and quiver of arrows, if that's not too much to ask." I said, moving on, and rolling my shoulder. It was a little stiff, but the wounds on my arms had disappeared and my shoulder would loosen up with a little more stretching and exercise. "Thanks, Will." I told him as he headed toward the door. Will nodded and quickly ducked out of the tent.

"Of course," Chiron said quietly.

I left the tent and started over to Zeus's Fist. Percy caught my arm half-way there.

"You can't do this. This is insane," he said.

"It's already been decided, I'm going. By _myself._ " I pulled my arm out of his grasp as one of the Aphrodite campers handed me a new Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. I started swapping it out with my old one, having learned a trick from my brother on how to change shirts without actually taking the one I was wearing right now off in the traditional sense that would show way more skin than I was comfortable with. At this point, people seeing my scars was the least of my worries.

"Tori—" Percy tried again.

"I don't belong here," I snapped, pausing as an Ares camber handed me another dagger. "I'm not welcome here, Percy." I continued after they'd headed off. "I left camp at its hour of need. What do you think that tells them?"

Will approached with a small knapsack, and a bow and quiver of arrows. I threw the quiver and bow over my shoulder before taking the sack.

"It's got some extra ambrosia, a small canteen of nectar and some bandages if you need them. Um, I got some of the kids from the Demeter cabin to put some granola bars in there. Pollux also put some juice boxes and a water bottle in there, too." Will explained.

"Thank you," I said again, feeling a bit stunned. I hadn't expected _that_.

Will gave me an awkward smile before going off again.

"So did I," Percy said, bringing me back to our conversation.

"But you saved the camp." I started toward Zeus's Fist again. "I became a prisoner on Luke's ship. And then I became the person who let this happen, who let Luke…" I remembered he didn't know all that stuff and trailed off. "I have to do this. I have to at least try to make things right. I'm tired sitting and watching things happen, letting them happen. No more of that." I stopped at the entrance and looked around at all the campers, scanning the crowd for a familiar face. I tried not to think of the worst when I didn't see Dan. "Besides no one here is going to miss me. No one cares."

Percy caught my gaze. "I do."

I looked away and shifted uncomfortably. "I appreciate your concern, Percy, but you'll be needed here. Hopefully the entrance will close when I come out, there's no guarantee. Kampê's powerful and angry. It's not a good combination. Just be ready." I held out my hand for Ariadne's string.

Glaring at me, not breaking eye contact, he put the ball of thread in my hand with some force behind it. I stifled an eye roll. Without another word he went back through the trail of disarmed traps. I turned toward Zeus's Fist and looked for the mark of Daedalus. I brushed my fingers against and as the rock slid open, I glanced back. A Hephaestus kid was resetting the traps. I took in the woods, the fresh air, the blue sky, and then plunged back into darkness.


	30. Square One

Going back into the Labyrinth was a lot harder than I anticipated. I'd only been aboveground from maybe 30 minutes, 45 minutes if I was being kind to my mental state. As soon as the door sealed shut behind me, I felt claustrophobic, my chest was tight. My mind went back to all the horrors I'd had to face—especially the falling ceiling and cold room. Which only brought about more painful memories, namely Luke.

A jolt ran through me and I tried to push those thoughts from my head. I needed to concentrate on what I was doing because this was vitally important. I needed to be on high alert, I needed to make sure I stayed alive. Though, to be fair, it didn't really matter if I died down here, or on Mount Tam, the final goal was to make sure that Kronos's army couldn't navigate the maze and invade Camp Half-Blood.

The only reason I wasn't finding a nice spot to just sit down until my twenty-four hours was up was because I wanted to get rid of as much of Kronos's army as possible. Especially Kampê. I would even consider it a successful mission if we only managed to take out Kampê. She was such an ancient monster and a huge threat if the war against Kronos started. She had to be eliminated early on.

I thought about Mount Tam and instantly a glowing bronze string appeared—seeming to shoot out from the ball of yarn in my hand—guiding me through the maze once again.

Having learned from last time, I took the corners with caution and listened for any sounds of monsters.

The corridor I was heading through currently was damp, hot and moist. The walls were made of brick and circular. The ground was concrete from what I could tell. It reminded me of sewers if only because of the look and the sound of dripping water. Thankfully there was no smell or water that contained who knew what.

The string was currently hanging on the belt around my waist. I'd ripped some of my shirt and tied it around the ball of yarn, then around my belt so I could have both hands free.

I gripped my bow in one hand tightly, an arrow nocked already, but not pulled back, just so I was prepared if anything decided to jump out at me.

The faint glow of the string turned a corner and I slowed my pace, pausing and taking a deep breath before turning to face whatever may be there. So far, I hadn't encountered anything. A few traps, but no monsters, which was a nice change.

The first thing I saw was the body on the floor. She was lying on her stomach, her head turned to her left. Her hair was long and loose, falling over her shoulders and down her back sloppily, strands falling into her face. She wore a white, sleeveless Greek dress.

I wasn't sure what to think about this. I didn't want to get any closer, but the string was clearly leading me down the hall, past her body.

She wasn't moving from what I could tell. She wasn't breathing, but you never knew down here. Or with anything, really, if you were a demigod.

I looked at her for a long time, trying to decide what to do. I could shoot her, make sure she was dead. If she was, no harm done. If she was a monster, even better—though I wasn't sure what monster looked human and played dead.

However, what stopped me was the fact that she might not be a monster. She might be a human (who ended up here somehow) or another demigod.

She did look a bit older than most demigods that I saw at camp. And why was she wearing something so Ancient Greek? I mean, granted I'd done that before, too, but it had been a onetime thing. Jeans were sturdier and easier to move in. A t-shirt made it easier to maneuver and put armor over.

Thinking about it now, her dress looked awfully white for being in a place like this. It almost seemed to glow in the dim light.

I approached slowly, keeping my back to the other side of the tunnel and pressing myself as close to it as possible, bow and arrow lowered in front of me, but ready to be aimed and fired at a moment's notice. I tried to see if she _was_ breathing or not. Since she was lying on her stomach, it made things a bit difficult. And I wasn't going to get close enough to turn her over. That was way too dangerous.

My heart was pounding in my chest so hard I thought for sure it was going to break the bone in front. My ADHD went into overdrive and I tried not to jump every time a shadow moved or water dripped from the ceiling.

As I got closer to the woman's body I saw that her eyes were wide open, unblinking. That had to mean she was dead, right? They were an emerald green. Very pretty. Now that I was closer, I could also see that half her body, from the waist down, seemed to be covered in shadow, like the darkness was slowly swallowing her up. I couldn't see the end of her dress or her feet at all.

I swallowed hard. My heart had kicked into overdrive. The heat and humidity of the tunnel wasn't helping.

Further down I thought I heard a noise, maybe someone walking or something being dragged. I jumped, looking down the dark tunnel and raising my bow and arrow. I couldn't see through the gloom, however.

My eyes flickered back to the woman's face and I let out a scream, shifting my bow and arrow straight at her and letting it fly in her direction. Her eyes had moved and they were staring directly at me, glowing a bright, radioactive green. A smile had formed on her face.

Something happened, though, between the time I'd aimed and as I let my arrow go. It wasn't her face I saw anymore. It was Eddie's. His expression of agony, his eyes begging me to end his misery and pain. And my arrow completely missed its mark because of this. I mean, it could have also been that her eyes had shifted to look directly at me when I hadn't been looking. Seeing Eddie again wasn't helping the situation, though.

I couldn't stop more screams from leaving my mouth. I dropped my bow and stumbled away from the woman, stumbled away from Eddie. The sound of his body being crushed by a stone ceiling echoed through my ears. I tripped over something, maybe my own feet, still in a panic, still seeing Eddie's tortured face. Still seeing how scared he was in those last moments…his blank eyes after I'd shot him.

I hit something and jumped a mile, quickly looking behind me to see I'd hit the wall. I looked back to see the woman, who was staring at me hungrily now, that grotesque smile on her face. She'd risen and was moving toward me, but it was in a strange undulating way. She moved slightly to the left and would dip and then rise before moving slightly to her right, dipping and rising again, like she was making an infinity sign. I couldn't understand why she was walking like that. And was it just me or was she _really_ tall?

My mind was in too much of a panic, still hearing Eddie's screams for help. His expression, his blank eyes, the sound of his body being crushed being played over and over again. My heart was felt like it was malfunctioning, beating with the rhythm that my body was trembling.

All I could do was sit there, like a small cowering child as this _thing_ came closer and closer to me.

When she was about three feet away from me I realized why she'd been making those motions, why she'd seemed so tall. It was because the lower half of her body was that of a snake. A beautiful one, I'll admit. The body was dark, which color of dark, I couldn't tell. But it was the splashes and splotches of color that really made it beautiful—vermillion, green, blue, gold. Her snake half was patterned with those colors like a leopard.

Time seemed to slow around me. I couldn't tell if it was because she could make time slow somehow or if my mind was doing it just for kicks and giggles, having lost it.

The woman finally closed the distance between us. Her smile had become less menacing and gentler. Her eyes had stopped glowing neon green and had turned back to their emerald green I'd first seen. Had she blinked since she'd first started approaching me? I couldn't recall…

She raised her arms. I flinched, gasped and started desperately grabbing for my sword, which I was having trouble unsheathing. At the time it seemed rational, but what would've been better for this situation was my dagger.

The woman's hands came down on my shoulders, gripping them like vices, digging her long nails into my back. I yelped and tried to pull away, letting go of my sword's hilt. She held firm, digging her nails even deeper into my skin. Then she leaned toward me, inclining her head. I thought she was going to kiss me, instead her lips met my neck. I sucked in a sharp breath when I felt her hot breath on my skin.

 _A vampire?_ I thought through my haze.

I braced myself for the pain.

"Hey!" someone yelled from my left. We both jolted. The woman pulled back and we both looked over to see who it was. I couldn't believe my eyes. It must have been a hallucination. There was no way _he_ was here. Not _here_.

The son of Poseidon charged forward, his sword drawn. The woman quickly retreated as he came to stand in front of me. The woman's smile grew again into something sinister and not quite human. Her eyes started glowing again. I also decided that, no, she hadn't blinked. At all.

Percy charged the snake-woman again. She was as quick as a cobra, dodging his swing easily. He continued to stab and slash at her, ducking and rolling when she tried to attack him, but all Percy was accomplishing was driving her back. At one point, he summoned what water there was around the tunnel and threw it directly into her face. It wasn't much, but it was enough to distract her. However, he only managed a cut to her side. It wasn't long enough or deep enough to turn her to dust.

She roared in outrage, her scream much higher than I had anticipated, and hissed at Percy. She lunged toward him as quick as a rattlesnake, gripping his shoulders like she had mine a moment again and shoving him against the wall. She'd shoved Percy so hard, he dropped his sword and his eyes glazed over. His head had hit the wall with a sickening thud.

This helped jar me back into some sense. I needed to help him. Thankfully, he'd managed to push her back far enough I could grab my bow. I'd never get to him in time with my sword, she was already leaning in for the kill. I clumsily dove for my bow, pushing myself to my knees and notching an arrow and pointing it at the back of the woman's head.

I was behind her now, slightly to her left, but that also put Percy within the range of my arrow. Normally this wouldn't concern me, however, I was still trembling so badly that I was having trouble aiming straight. If I was off by even an inch to my left, I'd hit Percy. And I was trying to _save_ him, not mortally maim him.

I was also afraid I'd get another flashback of when I shot Eddie. I had to constantly remind myself that what I'd done had been a mercy killing. But the fact of the matter was, Brett's words had gotten to me, I had still killed Eddie. Even if it was out of mercy.

My eyes strayed from my target to Percy momentarily. He was still in a daze, blinking hard, possibly trying to come out of it. Then I saw Eddie's face again. My hand almost slipped, but I squeezed my eyes shut tightly to dispel the image and gripped both my bow and arrow even harder. I didn't have a lot of time!

When I thought I got somewhat of a handle on things, I opened them again and directed my attention back to the back of the woman's head. Percy was in trouble. I needed to help him. _Now_. I was still shaking. Nonetheless, I took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. For a split second I found my mark and let my arrow go—straight through the back of the head.

The woman screeched and pulled away from Percy. I saw Eddie's head fall to the ground after the arrow had pierced his forehead and gasped, falling back and scrambling into the wall again. I managed to keep a grip on my bow this time.

Then I saw Percy and the snake-woman-vampire thing again just as Percy swung his sword at her—much slower, he still seemed in a bit of a stupor—and cut her in half. She stopped wailing and disintegrated into dust. I watched as the bright, beautiful colors on her snake-half turned grey and crumbled into ash.

Movement caught my eye and my gaze darted back to Percy who had taken a step toward me. (His eyes had finally cleared, though he looked a little pale.) I reacted instinctively and notched another arrow (keeping seated), pointing it at Percy. My aim was once again off because of how badly I was shaking, but I continued to point my arrow at him.

Percy stepped back slowly, holding up his hands. Well, hand and sword, I should say. I glared at him, unsure if I was imagining this. If I had imagined the snake-woman _and_ him.

"Whoa, hey, it's all right," Percy said in a low, soothing voice. Was he talking a little slower than usual? "I'm not going to hurt you."

I couldn't speak. All I knew was that he was a potential threat that needed to be eliminated immediately or I'd die. The only reasonable explanation my mind could come up with for how he'd gotten here was that he was a trick of the Labyrinth. It was slowly pulling me into the depths of madness that so many other demigods had fallen into. I had hallucinated the snake-woman and Percy. It was the only thing that made sense to me.

Percy tried to take a step toward me and I let my arrow go. Fortunately for him, my aim had been off. I quickly nocked another arrow as he froze, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again. I could see the vein pulsing in his neck.

"Tori—" Percy tried.

"You're not real," I whispered in a hoarse, watery voice. "You can't be real. There's no way—" I broke off and swallowed hard. "You're not real."

"No, no," Percy objected in a louder, more strained voice. "I _am_ real. I can assure you, I am _very_ real."

"That's exactly what a hallucination would say." I responded.

His lips twitched, like he thought what I'd said was funny, but managed to suppress it.

"What can I do to prove to you that I'm real?" he asked.

I thought about this. Hallucinations could do many things, right? I mean, if they were conjured up from my own mind then they'd know the answer to anything I'd ask. However, if this was the _Labyrinth_ that was conjuring him up, he couldn't know the answer to everything I'd ask. The real question was how to tell the difference. And that was assuming that the Labyrinth could even make hallucinations. Then again, this was in my world of gods and monsters and demigods, so it probably could.

Throughout this, though, I started to calm down enough to realize how irrational I was being. Slowly, not taking my eyes off Percy, I lowered my bow and arrow. I did keep it in my hands, ready to aim and fire, however. And of course, I was still cowering like a trapped animal and ready to attack at the slightest movement, but I could think a little clearer now.

Percy relaxed and capped his sword before sticking it back in his pocket.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "Does Annabeth—"

"You honestly thought I wouldn't know?" Annabeth's voice interrupted me. She appeared from around the corner and started toward us, pausing when I raised my bow and arrow on her. Upon realizing it was her, though, I lowered it again. So this _had_ to be real if Annabeth was here. Or it was a very detailed hallucinations.

She walked up to Percy and glared at him before turning her glare on me. "I couldn't let him go without me. He might get himself killed." I could tell she was angry about him following me, but I could also see how worried she was at the thought of him going alone. There was also a hint of jealousy. I wasn't sure why that had manifested.

I got my answer when I asked, "How did you even navigate the maze without the string?"

"That would be me," another voice came from around the corner. She didn't appear, though. "You promise not to shoot me if I show myself?"

I glanced back at Annabeth and Percy. Annabeth was glaring at nothing in particular and Percy had found a sudden interest in his shoes.

"I guess," I finally said. A girl with frizzy red hair turned the corner and walked up next to Annabeth. I noticed not getting as close to Annabeth as Annabeth was to Percy. I realized it was the girl I'd seen in the arena, the one Kelli had had her claws around. Then something else clicked, too.

"You're that mortal girl, the one who can see through the Mist!" I exclaimed.

The girl nodded, smiling a little. "That would be me. Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too," I managed. I was glad that Luke hadn't pursued this option. She looked about as young as Percy and Annabeth. I looked back Percy. "Bring anyone else along?"

"…maybe one or two," Percy muttered, looking annoyed. "I _told_ them they didn't have to come."

The clopping of hooves startled me. I grasped my bow and arrow. This time I actually managed not to raise it as Grover and Tyson came around the corner.

"Guilty is charged," Grover said.

"Everything is okay, now?" Tyson asked. He turned his big, brown eye on me. "You are okay?"

I was taken aback by his concern. I thought for sure he'd hate me after I'd kind of joined the Titan's side. "I—I'm fine."

"You are shaking," the Cyclops pointed out. I looked down at my still trembling hands and gripped my bow and arrow tighter. It didn't do too much to stop the shaking.

"So, you brought the whole cavalry," I commented coldly, glowering at Percy.

"I couldn't just let you do this by yourself," Percy objected. He turned on Annabeth. "Oh, and thanks by the way for all the help back there."

"You ran off without us! Do you know how _stupid_ that was! The Labyrinth could've led you off somewhere completely different and you could've gotten hurt! Or…or—" Annabeth broke off, huffed and turned away from Percy, crossing her arms.

"…well, what about when she"—he gestured toward me—"thought I was a hallucination? You could've said something."

Annabeth faced him again. "Your head really is full of seaweed, Seaweed Brain," she sighed. "She's obviously jumpy. If I had appeared, she probably would've accidentally shot you. I couldn't risk that."

"Well, now that that's all cleared up, why don't you guys just head back to camp—" I saw Percy's eyes roll into the back of his head before he pitched forward. I was already on my feet, going toward him, arms outstretched.

"Percy!" the four of them exclaimed as he fell into me. He was heavier than I originally thought, but I managed to keep him up just fine.

I laid him down carefully as his friends gathered around him. They were asking so many questions all at the same time and I wasn't sure if they were directed at me or if they were asking each other. Either way, it was very distracting.

"Guys!" I snapped, looking around at all of them as they stopped their queries. "I need you all to keep calm and be quiet. Can you do that for me?" I asked slowly. One by one, they nodded.

I turned my attention back to Percy. "Percy?" I asked loudly. "Percy, if you can hear me I need you to try to open your eyes for me." I waited for a count of thirty. I looked around the tunnel and thought about what happened when he'd fought that snake woman. My eyes caught sight of a dark smudge on the wall near us and I remembered him being shoved against it…his head!

I looked back at Percy and carefully lifted his head with one hand, reaching underneath with my other.

"What are you doing?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm searching for—" I broke off when I encountered something warm and sticky. I pulled my hand back. My fingers were covered in blood, though in the dark the liquid was almost black.

"Is that…blood?" Rachel asked in a hoarse whisper.

This evoked more panic from his friends and they started leaning toward him, going on about nectar and ambrosia.

I wiped the blood off on my pants and yelled, "Hey!" They stopped again, looking at me with wide eyes. "Give him some room to breathe, all right? And remember that calm I mentioned earlier?" I pulled my knapsack into my lap and got my canteen of nectar out before slowly giving some to Percy. After a few small waterfalls, his eyes fluttered open. He looked around at us, a little disoriented.

"What…what happened?" he mumbled.

"You passed out," I explained. "I'm going to help you sit up and then I need to make sure you don't have a concussion, okay?"

"Shouldn't the nectar have taken care of that?" Grover asked.

"Not quite," I answered as I helped Percy sit up before leaning him up against the wall. The group followed, boxing me in, squatting in front of Percy. I was starting to feel claustrophobic again. "I only gave him enough to heal the wound on the back of his head. He could still have a concussion."

"Why would that matter?" Annabeth asked. "I mean, we brought extra. And you're a daughter of Apollo. You can heal, right?"

"I want to make sure because I don't want to waste precious resources." I responded, ignoring her second comment. "The Labyrinth has all kinds of tricks. You guys should know." I looked at them pointedly before facing Percy again.

I reached up to hold Percy's face with one hand and reached around the back of his head with my other one, running my fingers through his hair, like I'd done a moment ago.

"Wha-at are you doing?" Percy asked, his voice wavering. It was humid and hot and dim in this tunnel, but if I wasn't mistaken Percy was blushing.

"Checking to see if the wound closed," I answered, continuing to gently prod the back of head with my fingertips. "No tenderness or pain?" I asked as I did so.

"No," he answered quietly. I pulled my hands back.

"No blood, either," I said. "That's good. Now, I'm going to ask you to do something for me, followed by a series of questions that may seem simple enough, but I need to you answer them as seriously as you can, all right?" Percy nodded. I continued, "I want you to remember this number for me: two-five-six." I waited to give him a chance to store it. "Got it?" He nodded again. "Now the questions—no one help him. What is your full name?"

He paused for a moment and I could feel the atmosphere around us drop as his friends' worry increased.

"Perseus Jackson," he finally said slowly, almost like he was unsure.

"When's your birthday?" I questioned.

He answered almost immediately, "August 28." Then he paused again. His dark eyebrows furrowed and he frowned. "I can't remember the year…" He trailed off, looking around, his eyebrows mashed together. He stared at a spot on the ground for a long period of time.

"This is pointless," Annabeth whispered.

"Shh!" I said before asking, "Percy?" to get his attention. He blinked, unfurrowing his eyebrows, and looked back at me.

"What was the question?" he asked.

"It's fine," I said, though it wasn't actually. "I'm going to ask you one more question, okay?" Percy nodded. To my right Annabeth scoffed. I ignored her. "Who is the activities director at Camp Half-Blood?"

He opened his mouth as if to answer but no answer ever came out. His eyebrows furrowed again. Frustration was clear in his eyes.

"Okay, can you remember that number I gave you?" I asked, moving on.

Percy let out annoyed, sharp sigh. "I don't even remember you asking me to remember a number."

"I want to do one more test," I said. "Does anyone have a flashlight?"

"Clearly he's experiencing mental confusion and memory loss. We should just give him some more nectar or some ambrosia." Annabeth looked irritated. Underneath I could see how worried she was though.

"I don't want to waste—" I started as calmly as I could. Despite knowing how upset this was making her, she was starting to really get on my nerves.

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Annabeth yelled.

"I can't heal, all right?" I shouted back, glaring at her. All their eyes bored into me. The silence was filled with shock.

"What do you mean you can't…?" Grover started, trailing off into more silence.

I sighed and turned away from Annabeth, to Rachel because I figured she wouldn't snap at me if I ignored their inquiries. "Did you guys bring a flashlight or not?"

Rachel nodded slowly, her eyes full of curiosity and interest. She reached for her backpack, finally taking her eyes off me when she went to look for the flashlight. As soon as she handed it to me, I turned back to Percy, shifting so that I was sitting directly in front of him.

"I want you to keep her eyes on me, okay?" I asked. Percy nodded. He was either hiding his shock or had gotten over it. I was relieved he didn't push about my inability to heal.

I held up the flashlight at an angle so I wouldn't blind him and clicked it on, watching his pupils carefully. No constriction. That definitely wasn't a good sign.

I turned the flashlight off and handed it back to Rachel.

"You should drink more nectar or eat some ambrosia." I confirmed. "If you're feeling nauseous, dizzy, seeing stars, hear ringing in your ears, feeling overly tired, or develop a headache tell me _immediately_. Don't try to push through it, that's an indication that you haven't healed and you need medical attention."

"Okay, I understand," Percy said, nodding for emphasis. I stood up and went to retrieve my bow and arrow from where I dropped them on the other side of the tunnel, let his friends have a chance to assure themselves he was, and was going to be, okay.

* * *

"I found out a little after I was claimed," I said, breaking the silence that had lasted since we started making our way through the maze again. Percy had recovered fully after ingesting a decent sized square of ambrosia, but I didn't trust giving him any more. He might burn up. Literally.

I still had Ariadne's string, tied to my waist, but Rachel was guiding us now. I found I liked it that way. And I could also see why Daedalus had insisted we use a mortal with clear sight. The string just led you where you needed to go. Rachel could sense the maze's traps. That ability was invaluable.

And, yes, I had decided that I might as well let them come with me. At least it extended my 24 hour gap. I wouldn't have to worry about dying from being crushed or suffocated. That was comforting.

Also, I wasn't alone.

I really hadn't wanted anyone to come with me. But now that they were here, though I only considered two of them friends in any sense of the word, I found that I actually felt better on this journey. I didn't feel so desperate, trapped, scared, and…well, lonely.

I was waiting for the pain of losing Luke to wash over me any time now. I'd prepared by letting my mind think about other things, for instance, surviving in the Labyrinth. Also, cutting off my emotions as best I could, trying to numb myself before the pain came.

Being with people, it helped.

"What?" Percy asked.

"That I couldn't heal," I elaborated. "Lee was introducing me to cabin life, what being a daughter or son of Apollo meant. Which, obviously, includes healing, helping wounded campers. He showed me more physical things, like dressing a wound and such. He also taught me a hymn for healing wounds magically. I tried it and…nothing happened. No magic. No healing. Nothing.

"I can still access medical information. Like with Percy's concussion," I continued. "I mean, it's not extensive or in depth, I couldn't become a doctor without still having to go to medical school or anything, but I can pull out information pertaining to the injury or ailment on command as far as I can tell."

"That's really cool," Rachel commented.

"The perks of being a daughter of the medicine god." I shrugged and smiled a little.

"But no healing?" Annabeth prodded.

My smile dropped. "No," I said. "My best guess? It's because I hate my father. So how is a hymn to someone I hate supposed to work?"

"You hate him?" Rachel asked. "Why?"

"…I'd really rather not—"

"Stop!" Rachel interrupted suddenly. We all froze, readying our weapons. "We're here."

Annabeth looked around. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, the path leads right up to here." Rachel pointed at the ground and then followed the path only she could see with her finger before stopping at a point in the middle of the side of the tunnel we were standing in.

Annabeth, who was closest to the wall, looking at Rachel's finger to pinpoint where on the wall she was aiming at before examining the rocky surface. After a moment she reached up and pressed her palm against the wall. When she pulled away the Mark of Daedalus glowed brightly in the dark. I held my breath as the wall rumbled and slid aside to reveal the mountain I'd come to know like the back of my hand.

A gust of cool wind that brought with it the smell of cough syrup and eucalyptus hit me, ruffling my hair. That was a smell I'd recognize anywhere. Rachel was right, not that I thought she wouldn't be, we'd arrived at Mount Tam—or rather, Mount Orthrys.

We retreated a few steps, keeping our eye on the opening and quickly formed a plan. Because none of us wanted Rachel to get too mixed up in all this and possibly get hurt or killed, she would head back to Manhattan with Tyson and Grover, who would then fly back to camp and update Chiron on the situation. Annabeth, Percy and I would lure Kampê and Kronos's army into the Labyrinth and back to Camp Half-Blood.

I was opposed to either Annabeth or Percy coming with me because I knew the layout better than they did _and_ Kampê was more likely to react and chase after me if I taunted her with the string. Also it was a huge risk. If either of them got caught, there wasn't much I could do to save them. I had no doubt, with that kind of leverage, Kronos would be able to take camp without even invading it.

However, after a little debate, we finally agreed on a plan. It was still risky, but it was a plan. Also, if it failed only I would be the one in immediate danger of dying. Percy and Annabeth would still have to lead the army through the maze and stop them before they invaded camp, but they could do it. From what I'd seen of both of them, they could definitely do it.

After going over the plan three times, each of us reciting it once to make sure we knew what we were doing and where our rendezvous point was, we split up.

Bow already in hand, I notched an arrow and cautiously exited the tunnel onto the mountain. After surveying the landscape to make sure that there weren't any monsters/guards nearby, I looked up at the sky. A habit I'd formed. I somehow deluded myself into thinking that if I looked up enough the swirling grey clouds wouldn't be there. As always, they were still there, swirling as steadily as they had the first time I'd set foot on this mountain. The air was cool, which was refreshing from being in the Labyrinth. The smell of cough syrup and eucalyptus wasn't the greatest, but it was better than the maze. In my opinion, anyway.

I continued forward, keeping on high alert. The thing about this mountain was it was too open and bare for my liking. Nowhere to hide. It was good in that I'd be able to spot an enemy. It was bad in that I could be easily spotted too.

I thought it was interesting how both the string and Rachel's powers to see through the Mist worked, how they could lead us right to where we needed to be. Instead of opening up to the palace where Kronos had risen like I'd expected, it had opened right up to a different black structure, where I knew that army gathered. At least, where they'd gathered before the invasion. They could've moved. Right now, it was our best bet.

I managed to get inside easily enough, which I thought was strange. Surely they'd have some guards outside the entrance? I mean, I wasn't sure what exactly they'd _need_ guards to since I didn't think any demigod would be crazy enough to come up here—the Titan's headquarters—and face them. Still…it was feeling _too_ easy. Which made me very uneasy.

I was turning down a corridor when suddenly I couldn't move. My body felt _so_ heavy. I tried to take a step forward only to meet resistance, like I was a bug trapped in amber and trying to get out. I even felt like I was trying to breathe trapped in amber. My chest heaved and my heart pounded against my ribcage painfully. I thought someone was driving a metal stake right through my heart.

What was going on?

"Victoria," a voice came from behind. Waves of chills ran up and down my spine and I realized this must've been how Percy felt when he'd been frozen too.

That voice…ancient, cold, like knives scraping against glass—Kronos.

I waited, not able to move still. I could hear his footsteps echo down the hall. My body not only felt heavy, but it filled with a strange anticipatory, dreading pain. A tightening feeling in my chest came along with this pain, making it harder to breathe. Kronos was taking his sweet time. Each step felt like a physical force hitting me to my very core. There was another pair of steps, but they were lighter, quieter.

Finally, the moment came. His footsteps sounded inches away from me. His presence was cold, sucking any and all warmth from the air. I felt his presence as he passed. If I could've shivered, I would have. As it was, I was still pretty frozen in time.

Then I came face to face with a pair of golden eyes on an all too familiar face. My stomach twisted into a knot and a small ache blossomed in my chest.

I tried to ignore this as Kronos came to a stop, facing me. He was still dressed in his white t-shirt and grey pants. He also, of course, had his scythe. On his right flank was Ethan Nakamura dressed in full Greek battle armor, sword at his side. I couldn't see his face from underneath his helmet. The braziers weren't helping, flickering and casting shadows all over the place.

The titan lord smiled that just barely managed to contain the fury burning in his golden eyes. "It's nice to see you again."

* * *

**I meant to have this conversation in the story, but the opportunity never really presented itself. The monster is Lamia—my interpretation of her, anyway. The description of her can be attributed to John Keats because of how he portrays her in his poem, "Lamia."**

**Also, in the chapter with that ice room, Tori and Dana weren't** _**as** _ **affected by the cold because I have this headcanon that children of Apollo are naturally warmer and can withstand colder temperatures longer and more than other demigods and mortals. I meant to put that in the story somewhere, too, but, again, the opportunity never really presented itself.**


	31. Blue, like I'd Never Known

_"There you are," Luke's voice sounded behind me._

_I blinked and turned away from the railing to look over my shoulder at him. I'd been gazing at the moon and stars, floating above the calm water of the sea. The cool sea air was refreshing._

_Luke was still wearing his_ chiton _and_ himation _. I was still wearing the dress and sandals. I hadn't wanted to change out of them just yet. Besides, it hadn't been all that long since that meeting anyway._

_We both had our swords on us. You could never be too careful on this ship. At least, I couldn't._

_"Oh, hey," I said, turning to face him fully. Luke had his arms crossed and he had a crooked smile on his face. "Sorry, I just…needed a few minutes."_

_"I know," he replied. His smile faded and he started toward me. "You said that an hour ago." His eyebrows furrowed slightly. "I was worried. Is everything all right?"_

_"I'm just nervous," I lied. "About going into the Labyrinth. I mean, from what Quintus has told us about it…" I trailed off. There were really no words for what the Labyrinth held, what kind of horrors it could produce._

_What I'd actually been thinking about? All this, about how I could've easily prevented this. How Luke didn't want me to sacrifice myself and I loved him so much I wasn't going to do that to him. Yet, if I did, he'd be saving the world. He'd be saving the lives that had already been lost and the lives that would be lost if this continued, if he became Kronos. He'd stop a war. He'd be a hero._

_Luke closed the distance between us and put his hands on my shoulders gently, giving them a light squeeze._

_"It'll be fine," he said. He ran his fingers down my arms before taking his hands into mine. "I don't know about you, but I think we're a great team." He smiled and squeezed my hands._

_I couldn't help the answering smile that formed on my lips. I turned back toward the railing, keeping one of his hands in mine, and gazed at the night sky. Luke came to stand next to me, pulling me closer to him by letting go of my hand and wrapping his now free arm around my waist. I leaned into him and closed my eyes momentarily, relishing this moment. I had to take in every single moment with him and engrain it into memory before…_

_"Beautiful," Luke commented after a moment of silence._

_I pulled back a little and looked back at him, about to agree before I realized he was already looking at me._

_I felt the heat rise slowly into my neck and then my face. I turned to face the railing again feeling extremely self-conscious and hyperaware of where exactly Luke was touching me, the warmth coming from his body._

_Suddenly, Luke pulled away, taking my hand again. I looked back at him as he started to pull me away from the railing._

_"Come on," he said softly. "I want to show you something."_

_I gave him a questioning look and he just smiled mysteriously as he kept pulling me back into the halls of the ship. I smiled at him ruefully but followed. He led me to one of the many rooms on the ship, on deck three._

_"I found a radio a few days ago," Luke finally explained as he opened the door and led me inside. I quickly pushed on the door to close it before Luke pulled me around the bed and to the nightstand._

_It looked like a portable radio from the 1970s. A large rectangle, bulky, speakers taking up a good portion of the front and the tuner taking up the other space. A handle on the top and an antennae sticking up on one side. I was unsure about whether it would work or not, seeing as we were out at sea._

_"I had one of the Hephaestus kids modify it," Luke said, as if reading my mind. His eyebrows furrowed. "I don't know if I can explain it exactly like he said, but the plain English version was that he made it so that it can pick up signals from basically anywhere in the world."_

_I tore my eyes away from the radio to look over at Luke. My spirits lifted at the thought of actual music again. I opened my mouth to ask him why and how and what but nothing came out._

_Luke smiled and laughed, but there was a nervousness behind it. "I…I found that cassette player. I thought you might enjoy something new."_

_I wanted to be angry that he'd followed me during the time I needed to just be by myself, but at the same time I was glad he hadn't barged in. I wasn't sure how long ago he'd found the player, but whenever I told him I needed to take ten minutes he always let me go, no questions asked. I appreciated that._

_"Why don't we turn this on and see what's out there, then?" I asked, unable to hide my eagerness and excitement. I turned the radio on and twisted the dial. The first station I got was entirely in what sounded like Spanish. The next one sounded like Russian. After that, German. And after that possibly Chinese. And I only knew these because of Dan's roles in all the plays he'd had parts in._

_I hit a few U.S. stations but I wasn't in the mood for the music they played. I was about to change it to another station when that song ended and a new song began. The artist sounded vaguely familiar but I couldn't pinpoint a name. I didn't know the song, either. It'd been several years since I'd listened to the radio. Partly because I was a demigod, partly because I just had no way to. I was behind on what was mainstream._

_Something in the lyrics hit me and I stayed on the station, staring transfixed at the radio as the song played. Suddenly, I felt Luke slip his hand into mine. I turned to look at him. He didn't say anything. Instead, he slowly pulled me closer to him, putting a hand on my waist._

_"Dance with me," he requested quietly. I smiled and put my free hand on his arm. We started spinning in a slow circle in time with the music, keeping our eyes on each other._

_At one point I just couldn't take it anymore. I stopped our dance, took Luke's head into my hands and stretched up to kiss him. A different kind of warmth formed in the pit of my stomach: a want, a_ need _._

_Luke responded in kind._

_Our legs got tangled momentarily and Luke stumbled back against the wall. Our kiss didn't even waver. We had to break away for air, and I used this time to pull his sword from his waist. I threw it down next to the nightstand so it wouldn't be far. Again, you could never be too careful._

_Luke spun us around, pushing me against the wall, and we started kissing again. I felt his fingers run through my hair and his free hand at my waist, pulling my sword away and throwing it where I'd thrown his. I think. I wasn't really paying a lot of attention._

_My hands were shaking and clumsy as I moved my hands to his clothes, but they weren't clothes I was used to. I didn't exactly know how to take them off, which was frustrating and kind of embarrassing._

_I pulled away briefly trying to make sense of how he'd put them on._

_Luke chuckled._

_"Need help?" he asked in an amused, husky voice._

_I glared at him, pushing him toward, and then onto, the bed. I hiked my dress up and climbed onto the bed, straddling him._

_"I hope you don't like these clothes," I told him, "because I'll rip them off you if I have to."_

_I enjoyed the surprised in Luke's eyes at my statement. Luke suddenly flipped us, so now my back was against the bed and he was hovering over me. He smiled with a rueful glint in his eyes before leaning down to pick up where we'd left off._

_He kept one hand next to my head to hold himself up. The fingers from his free hand started trailing up my leg and slipped under the skirt of my dress, but stopped when he get to my dagger in its sheath._

_Luke broke our kiss and deftly undid the straps of my sheath before pulling my dagger off and looking at it curiously. His eyes slid over to mine and he raised an eyebrow._

_"My laced sandals went up to my knees. It wasn't comfortable having my sheath over my laces, so I move it up a little." I explained._

_He threw the dagger over his shoulder._

_"That's kind of hot," he commented, smirking._

_I scoffed and flipped us again. "Shut up."_

_Luke's eyes sparked with mischievous light. "Make me."_

_Needless to say, we didn't do a whole lot more talking after that._

* * *

I felt my limbs loosen up ever so slightly, but I didn't indicate it. I had to use this to my advantage.

I wanted to respond to his greeting, however, I still couldn't _really_ move. With each passing second, though, the weight seemed to lift from my body.

"You're either very _arrogant_ or very _stupid_ ," Kronos snarled, "coming back here." He lifted his left had to show me a bracelet with a scythe charm on it. "Or did you forget, you have a spy? They _were_ there when you made your plans to collapse the Labyrinth." He put the bracelet back into his pants pocket.

I was almost annoyed that this conversation was one-sided. Did he expect me to talk, to respond?

Without taking his eyes off of me, Kronos said, "Ethan, search her for the string." He smiled smugly, his eyes glowing with triumph.

My body was almost completely free from his time spell as Ethan came over to me. I wasn't sure how Kronos could not know that his power wasn't working anymore, but I was glad he didn't seem to notice. Talk about arrogance.

Ethan pulled my bow and arrow from my hands so he could search my backpack first, dumping its contents out onto the obsidian floor. He sifted through the items before turning to my person. He patted down my sides and my pockets, all the way down my legs.

"…I-I—I can't seem to find, sir," he finally said. His voice was shaking.

Kronos's smile faded and his eyes seemed to glow brighter, only with malevolence. I swallowed hard and tried to bolt as my heart kicked into high gear.

"Don't play games with me," he said in a dangerously low voice. I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or Ethan because his eyes were still on me. Ethan thought the titan was speaking to him.

"Please, sir, I swear she doesn't have it." His voice quavered and was just above a whisper.

Kronos's eyes narrowed. They raked over me, searching for any sign of the string before going to the pile of things that'd come from my backpack. His grip tightened on the shaft of his scythe as his eyes came back to me.

It was my turn to smile.

"Tell me what you've done with it, Victoria," he ordered quietly. I simply stared at him. He lowered his scythe toward me. I tried not to let my smile waver, but my heart lurched in my chest. The blade seemed to suck the air around me.

The burning started as soon as the blade came into contact with my skin. He drug it from my temple down, following my jawline.

"There are much worse things than death," he hissed. I swallowed hard and gritted my teeth, but still said nothing. Kronos brought his scythe back to his side and turned away from me. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in.

"Give me the string—" Kronos was cut off by a noise down the hall, the shriek of a monster or two. He looked over his shoulder, past me and at Ethan. "Go see what that was."

"Yes, sir!" Ethan sounded all too eager to leave. I listened to his rapid footfalls fade down the hall, keeping my eyes on the titan before me. The only noise for a time was my shallow, shaking breathing, which sounded kind of pathetic. My hands were trembling. I closed my eyes momentarily, trying to get a grip.

They snapped open when Kronos spoke again. "Give me the string and I'll kill you quickly." His voice sounded calm. Too calm. "I'll sweeten the deal and kill you in front of you precious camp friends. People will tell your story. How you fell in love and lost it all. Journeying back through the Labyrinth to make up for what you'd done, to try and lead my forces and crush them once on the other side. You may have failed, but you tried your best. No one knew I would know you were coming. No one remembers a spy.

"You'd die a hero." His voice sounded sarcastic and mocking with his last sentence. I saw his body tense, his hand grip his scythe.

I took a step back, into a fighting stance and gripped the hilt of my sword.

"I did. And I'm not a hero," I snarled unsheathing my sword just as Kronos whirled around, striking down with his scythe. Sparks flew. I was just barely able to hold off his attack. The blade came so close to my neck, I felt the cold coming off it. With a battle cry, I managed to push him back, but I didn't have much time to recuperate.

His scythe came swinging back at me. I blocked again, but his blow was much too powerful. Blocking his first one had taken all my energy and strength. My whole arm went numb as I deflected his blade and my own weapon went flying out of my hands. Kronos kicked me in the chest and I went wayward, seeing stars for a moment when my head hit the ground.

When my vision cleared he was towering over me his golden eyes glowing, a victorious smile on his face.

I lifted myself up with one elbow for the other one was still numb and glared up at him.

"You have angered me greatly," he growled. "I will not make this quick or painless. This was my second chance for you and you chose wrong. No more chances. I will watch you suffer."

"Do—your— _best_." I spat back.

Kronos's hand tightened on his scythe again and I prepared myself for whatever might come. There was a millisecond before another voice spoke, shattering the tension.

"You weren't supposed to aggravate him so much," Percy said from behind Kronos.

All the muscles in my body turned to Jell-O. We were far from out of the woods, but at least he'd delayed my torture. If everything went accordingly, I wouldn't be tortured at all, we'd make it back to the maze with the army following us, lead them back to camp and then collapse the Labyrinth.

Kronos spun around to face Percy. "Jackson!" he snarled. "Do you wish to die young?" Without waiting for an answer, the titan stamped his foot, intending to freeze Percy, I think.

Percy, who had his sword out, twirled it in his hand. "Sorry, looks like you used up all your power."

With an outraged cry, Kronos started toward Percy. If I couldn't fight him, I didn't think Percy could, either. Maybe he was a better swordsman than I was and could hold out longer, but Kronos was in Luke's body who'd taken on the Cures of Achilles. Even if Percy could hold his own long enough to strike a blow, it'd do nothing.

So, I reacted desperately. If I couldn't make it out of this place, Percy had to. I stretched my foot out and caught Kronos's ankle. He was heavier than I thought he'd be, but I pulled back with all my might and the titan lord did a face plant into the marble floor.

Shocked silence. Percy was gazing at me with wide sea green eyes. Kronos lifted himself up slightly with his free hand and his golden eyes zeroed in on me. It was in that moment I wondered if he could freeze people by simply looking at them.

I couldn't even believe it myself. Realizing I had a brief moment, I capitalized on it. My eyes did a quick scan of the hall and spotted a brazier very close to where Kronos had landed. Without hesitation, I leaped up and shoved the brazier with all my might, using my shoulder. The hot metal scorched my skin but I gritted my teeth and knocked it over. The coals and fire scattered about the floor. The brazier landed on Kronos's back.

The titan hit the floor again and cried out in pain. Some spots on his clothes caught fire.

I looked up at Percy.

"Go!" I commanded before sprinting past Kronos and toward Percy, who'd taken off down the hall. I didn't have time to get my sword, it was too far away and Kronos wouldn't stay down for long, I was sure. I caught up with Percy and we ran to our rendezvous point. Behind us, echoing through the halls was Kronos's voice roaring for backup.

When we arrived at the spot, Annabeth was nowhere to be seen.

"If Kronos regroups, I'll distract him. You find Annabeth, got it?" I asked Percy through gasping breaths, reaching up to grip my burning shoulder. I wasn't sure how badly scorched my skin was, but I couldn't worry about that now.

"You tripped the titan lord," he responded.

"Oh my gods, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth's voice sounded suddenly. I jumped away from where her voice had come from as she reappeared. In one had was Ariadne's string, in the other was her Yankees baseball cap. "Now is really not the time."

"Did you find the army?" I asked wincing as I pulled the burned shirt from my skin. Leaving it there was going to make it worse. Annabeth threw the ball of string at me. I barely managed to catch it.

"Sure did," she said proudly. "Let's go. By the sound of it, we don't have a lot of time."

She took off down a different hallway and Percy and I followed suit. I only hoped Kronos was too disoriented or hurt to follow us. I'm not sure what happened to Ethan, but Percy had done his job and gotten him out of the picture for now.

Annabeth slowed, holding out a hand, signaling for us to stop. We came up to a large entrance with no doors that I knew led into a spacious room, enough to hold an army. Inside I could hear chatter and what sounded like pacing by a giant beast.

We crept up to the doorway, hiding behind the pillar that acted as a sort of doorframe, and peeked inside. Sure enough, there was Kronos's forces milling around and Kampê, pacing. The other monsters and demigods gave her a wide birth, so as to not get trampled by her dragon feet, or bitten by the snakes writhing on her legs.

Percy, Annabeth and I backed away slowly.

"Get ready to run," I whispered. I took a deep breath and turned back to the doorway. I stood in the very middle of the open entrance and whistled a little tune to get their attention. The chatter died down. Kampê stopped pacing and her snake-eyes zeroed in on me. As soon as she realized who it was, her pupils turned to slits.

I held up the string, repressing my flinch.

"You want this back?" I asked, throwing it into the air and catching it. "Come and get it."

Kampê roared as I dashed out of the doorway. When I got to Annabeth and Percy, who'd moved a few yards away I yelled, "Hit the deck!" and crouched down as a volley of arrows, spears and javelins sailed over our heads. As soon as the volley ended we straightened up and began our game of cat and mouse.

The hardest part was making sure the army kept up with us. We'd be so focused on getting away from them, we'd lose them and have to backtrack to make sure they saw us. All the while dodging the Labyrinth's traps and any flying projectiles Kronos's army threw at us.

Kampê led them, like she'd wanted to, only I'm sure she had pictured different circumstances. Thankfully the Labyrinth stayed mostly tunnels too small for her to take flight in.

We continued this routine for what felt like hours, but surely was probably only forty-five minutes, if that. The upside to getting ahead was we could rest for a few minutes before one of us backtracked to make sure they hadn't lost us. Then we'd continue our game of chase.

Finally, we arrived at the camp's entrance. The mark of Daedalus glowed faintly in the dim tunnel. The string led us straight up to it. There were no sounds of the army behind us. We'd outrun them again.

"Get ready to open the entrance," Annabeth said, taking out her ball cap and holding her free hand out for the string. I nodded, panting too hard to answer with words, and handed over the string. During one of our breaks Percy gave me some of his ambrosia, so my burn was no longer an issue.

Annabeth put her cap on and disappeared. The only sound her footsteps echoing down the tunnel.

I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes, catching my breath. I really wished I had my sword. I didn't know what I was going to do if a fight broke out. If the army managed to get past us before we could seal the entrance.

"You seem pretty okay," Percy said suddenly. I opened my eyes and looked over at him. He was leaning against the wall opposite of me. He'd brought his sword out, probably along the same thoughts as I had been.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Well, I mean Luke—and Kronos—I just thought you'd be…I don't know, more…" He trailed off, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to think of the words. "We had Annabeth go look for the army because we didn't think she could handle seeing Luke like that. Why don't you seem affected? I mean, you two seemed…pretty close."

I smiled sadly and looked down at the floor. "It hasn't hit me yet," I told him quietly.

"What hasn't?"

I looked up again to meet Percy's eyes. "That I've lost him."

"Open the entrance!" Annabeth's voice came from down the tunnel. I spun around to face the wall and pressed my palm against the mark. It glowed brightly and the tunnel shook. Annabeth reappeared a few feet away from us. Behind her was Kampê. Both her poison swords were drawn. The roar of the army followed Kampê, but I couldn't actually see them yet. Kampê must've gotten eager and tromped ahead.

Annabeth got to us just as the rock finished sliding into place. Together, the three of us rushed out into the clearing.

For the split second that I was standing in the middle of what might be a battle field, it looked like the camp was prepared. I mean, of course they'd set up their traps already, but the Ares cabin was in position, shields locked. The other campers were stationed where I'd last seen them when Daedalus and I had shown up—Hermes and Apollo campers in the trees with bows and arrows. Satyrs and wood nymphs in the forest armed with bows and arrows, clubs and shields. The Athena cabin was spread around the battlefield and the Hephaestus cabin was situated near the catapults.

Then Annabeth shouted, "Beckendorf!" before grabbing Percy's sleeve and pulling him toward the ground. I followed her lead just as a large boulder hurtled toward the entrance of the Labyrinth. She had to have talked to him or even the camp somehow at some point for that to have been planned and I wondered when she could've possibly done this.

However, our timing was a bit off. Kampê had just burst through the entrance as the boulder came down. It hit her square in the chest, but she only stumbled back. There was a moment's pause as she took in her surroundings before roaring with delight. A horrible inhuman shriek. She spread her bat wings and launched into the sky, blotting out the sun for a moment before landing on the top of Zeus's Fist, shaking the ground beneath me.

I thought for sure we were done for. Before Kampê could do anything else a boulder, much larger than the one from the catapult, hit her in the chest again, knocking her off of the rock pile. One of her swords slipped from her hand, did a flip before dropping straight down toward Annabeth, Percy and I. I rolled to my left as Percy and Annabeth rolled to their rights. The sword lodged itself into the ground where I'd been laying a second before.

Despite my racing heart and yet another near-death experience I looked back up to see that that one boulder had been followed by dozens upon dozens of other, same-sized rocks. I looked to see who could throw so many and my gaze landed on Briars. I was terrified and impressed at his ability. I turned back to look at the spectacle.

It almost gave me a headache watching as all of the boulders soared over us, effectively burying Kampê. I blinked and suddenly the beast that was half-woman, half-dragon with bat wings and snakes around her legs had turned into a rock pile almost the size of Zeus's fist itself. Her other sword's point suck out through the cracks, billowing small amounts of green smoke.

Another second past before I heard the rest of the army. The door still hadn't sealed.

"It's not over!" I yelled, looking at Beckendorf. He nodded and yelled, "Fire!" to launch another boulder at the entrance, but it was too late. A group of Laistrygonian giants burst forth from the opening, one of them knocking away the boulder. They yelled in triumph as they emerged. I covered my ears and cringed because my eardrums felt like they were going to bust, the giants were yelling so loudly. They wielded shields that were flattened cars and clubs that were made from tree trunks with rusty spikes at the end.

I scrambled to my feet and grabbed Kampê's sword, dodging a swing from one of the giants before slashing it across the back of both legs. The monster collapsed in agony before bursting into sulfurous yellow dust. Several feet to my right, Annabeth and Percy had gotten to their feet and had just taken down another giant.

The problem was, with them being giants and all, they easily stepped over us and moved onto the Ares's phalanx. With one mighty swing, a Laistrygonian took out the entire cabin, some of them flying up into the air like rag dolls.

Beckendorf commanded, "Fire!" again, launching two boulders at two of the Laistrygonians. One of which easily took care of the giant. The other giant was more prepared and deflected the rock with his shield.

I turned back to face the entrance just as the Apollo and Hermes cabin fired their first volley of arrows at the giants because more monsters were coming.

Annabeth and Percy stayed near the entrance with me and together we fended off as many monsters as we could as they came through. The next wave consisted of two or three dozen _dracaenae_. I stabbed and slashed, aiming for wherever there wasn't armor, getting rid of a row of the snake-woman at a time before they even had to time throw their weighted nets, let along engage me in a sword fight. The great thing about Kampê's weapon was that it was poisonous and had a longer reach than my own sword. It easily vaporized the monsters.

Telekhines followed, along with hellhounds, and—to my utter dismay—demigods. I knew they were a part of Kronos's army, but the thought of fighting against them was heart-breaking. I couldn't get myself to hurt them.

I only hoped the rest of the camp was managing to deal with the giants, other monsters, and enemy half-bloods that got past my guard. I couldn't turn around to look for obvious reasons. To my right, out of the corners of my eyes, I could see the Hephaestus cabin's traps at work. Pinning monsters long enough for the archers to get a hit or sending them up in a flash of green flames. That was a good sign.

To my left, I caught glimpses of Annabeth and Percy, and I had to admit they were the perfect tag-team. They knew each other's fighting styles and complimented each other so well, they were taking down monsters left and right.

It was almost mesmerizing to watch, how they moved perfectly in sync with each other. Had my life not been in danger, I would've stood there and just watched them fight. It also hurt because their relationship reminded me of my relationship with Luke…

I focused back in on what I was doing, mowing down as many monsters as I could and trying not to hurt the enemy half-bloods other than to knock them out. It seemed to be going well, for me as far as I could tell, until I met another enemy warrior. She was good enough that I had to actually engage with her this time.

She didn't seem as frightened of the poisonous sword as the others had. Beneath her helmet, her eyes were hard and determined, focused. I dodged, slashed, stabbed and parried. I managed to go on the offense and push her back. I kept pushing her back, trying to get close enough to knock her out. Too late, I saw the trip wire.

"Wait!" I gasped as she took another step back. Her eyes widened in surprise and she started falling back. She dropped her sword, her arms flailing as she tried to keep her balance, but the trap had already sprung. I lowered my sword, threw it into my left hand, and reached toward her with an outstretched hand in an attempt to help her back to her feet. She reached for mine, her eyes now filled with terror, just as a column of green flame engulfed her. My fingertips grew uncomfortably hot but did not catch. She let out a terrible scream that was cut off and I watched in horror as she turned to ashes right before my eyes.

My stomach rolled and my world spun. The ringing in my ears blocked out the sound of the battle raging on around me. I'd dropped into my own little bubble. All I could see was her body turning to ash. That scared look in her eyes…

"Tori, look out!" someone yelled. My bubbled popped. The battle filled my ears once again and the world seemed to snap into an even keel. I turned around just in time to see a hellhound fly toward me. I didn't have time to raise my weapon. Its massive paws threw me to the ground and its slobbery mouth, with razor teeth went instantly for the kill. I held up one of my arms instinctively as it chomped down so hard I felt some of its teeth pierce the bones in my arm, its teeth burrowing into my skin all the way to the gums.

Pain exploded in my arm and radiated out like the energy from a nuclear blast. I couldn't remember if I screamed or not. My eyes watered, blurring my vision. I suddenly found it harder to breath. I could barely feel my body except for my arm in the hound's mouth as it throbbed.

A small part of my brain tried to fight through the haze and the agony. I could feel the hilt of Kampê's sword in my hand. Gritting my teeth I gripped the hilt and raised the sword, running it through the side of the pitch black beast. It yelped and let go of my arm before melting into shadow.

I slowly sat up, my hand and the sword falling to my side as I cradled my wounded arm to my chest. I looked around the battle field to assess how we were doing, but before I could even comprehend if we were winning or losing one of the most horrific sound I'd ever heard blasted through the clearing. The best I could liken it to was a brass trumpet, only magnified by tenfold. I thought I felt my heart stop for a moment, and a jolt ran through me before I was paralyzed with absolute fear.

Kronos's army dropped their weapons as a mass and bolted toward the Labyrinth entrance. Giants trampled the snake-women they couldn't get back into the maze fast enough. They were followed by the telekhines, hellhounds, and enemy demigods. When everyone had made it through, the door sealed itself shut faster than I'd ever seen it open or close.

That paralyzing fear vanished as soon as the rocked rumbled back into place. I looked around the clearing. No more sounds of battle, just the roar of a fire that had started in the woods and the cries of the wounded. I closed my eyes and shuddered, their moans reminding me of that girl I'd accidentally led into a trap.

Annabeth and Percy took off toward Chiron, who was lying on his side, struggling to get up. One of his legs was bent at an odd angle. I turned to face front and just sat there, cradling my arm, my breath hissing through my teeth. My head felt like it'd been filled with helium and the world was spinning again.

Things were a whirlwind after that. The Apollo cabin treated the wounded just enough so they could get them to the infirmary to treat them more and under better conditions. I was among them, though I wasn't wounded nearly as bad as some of the other campers. I was led back to the Big House and given ambrosia and nectar. My arm was put into a sling for the time being. It had healed well enough with the food of the gods, but my bones still needed time to fully mend.

I sat on the edge of my cot, staring blankly at the floor as more wounded came in and were treated. Lee, from the Apollo cabin, my cabin, came in in serious condition. As did one of Dionysus's only sons—Castor. That was when I forced my body to get up and leave. I felt the guilt building. This was my fault. I'd caused this. So many deaths. So much destruction, and it was all because I loved Luke too much to sacrifice myself.

I crashed into Silena on my way out of the infirmary. I mumbled an apology and tried to slip past her but she blocked my path. I finally met her eyes. They were a deep brown today.

"I was just about to come get you," she said.

"What?" I asked.

Her eyes slid over to her right. I looked and realized that the war council had gathered in the front room. All the head counselors (apart of Lee; Pollux had taken Castor's place) were sitting in a kind of lopsided ovular shape, with some seated on the sofa, and some seated in mix-and-matched chairs. Chiron sat near the fireplace, in his wheelchair, looking solemn. And tired.

I blinked as my mind tried to process what was going on. Why were we holding a council meeting? And why in the front room?

Percy stood up.

"Daedalus told me to tell you that it's time we heard the whole story," he said. "He said you'd know what that meant."

"Is he…?" I started.

"Yes," Annabeth answered. Her eyes were rimmed red. In her lap sat a sleek, silver laptop with a glowing blue Δ on the lid. Percy sat down again—next to Annabeth—and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

"Are you sure this is an okay time—?" I started, my eyes flickering to Chiron.

Clarisse interrupted me, "We're deciding on whether or not to let you stay at camp again." My eyes went to her. She glared at me. Her voice had been harsh. She had a few cuts here and there and a bruised cheek, but otherwise looked fine. Decide if I could stay…? What if they didn't want me her? What would they do to me then?

"We're in here so we can monitor how Lee and Castor are doing," Silena told me softly, bringing my attention back to her.

At the reminder of Lee and Castor I took a deep, shaky breath. I thought about what Daedalus and I had talked about. "Okay," I finally mumbled. Silena went to take her seat, which left one for me, at the other end of the oval, straight across from Chiron.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and beginning my story.

The council was silent as I spoke, no commentary, no interjections. It seemed unlike some of them, but they'd just been through a battle, no one was in the mood to make sarcastic remarks or belittling comments. Especially with Lee and Castor hanging on by a thread.

I only managed to make it to the point where Kelli had been about to kill me until Luke told her that he wouldn't do Kronos's bidding if I was dead. I hadn't even been able to voice that part.

"Kelli was going to kill me," I said. "And then Luke…" My voice faded out. I swallowed hard, wondering why it was becoming progressively harder to talk about him. My dreams came to the forefront of my mind. Those cold golden eyes that had replaced his wintery blue ones, that cruel smile that had replaced the gentle, kind one.

Those nights I'd spent with him in all those different suites hit me full force, then, playing back like a movie I couldn't pause or look away from. Forced to relive it in high definition, Technicolor, with all five senses. His gentle touch, his soft caress. So careful with me, as if I was made of glass. The warmth of his body, the feel of his skin against mine. Those beautiful blue eyes gazing down at me, full of love, his soft smile.

Something inside me broke. A harsh sob escaped my lips before my uninjured hand flew up to clamp over my mouth. Tears flooded my eyes as I stared at the floor, trying to hold it together…and failing utterly. More sobs filled my throat and I clamped my other hand over my mouth, despite the flare of pain it sent through me. But these sobs could not be contained.

Without a word I shot to my feet and dashed to the bathroom, slamming the door shut and going to the middle of the floor, collapsing to my knees, curling up into a ball. I opened my mouth and gut-wrenching sobs spilled out. Tears poured down my face. Still, I knew I couldn't be too loud. They were just outside that door. I couldn't—I _wouldn't_ —let them hear this. They couldn't know how broken I was.

I kept my hand over my mouth as more, desperate, guttural sobs forced their way out of my mouth. I took my sling that had been made from some extra cloth, slung it over my arm, and held the crook of my elbow up to my mouth as my sobs and cries and screams continued.

All the muscles in my body tensed and the ones around my stomach cramped from the effort to contain the brunt of the noise.

It had finally hit me, what I'd been waiting for, the pain, the agony—it had finally settled in.

I'd lost Luke.


	32. Beautiful Lie

It didn't get any better from there.

I was sitting on the floor in the bathroom still, where I landed when I first rushed in. I had gotten over my breakdown a few minutes ago, I just hadn't found it in me to go back out there.

I'd just managed to work up enough courage to exit the bathroom and was standing in front of the door, ready to grab the door knob when I heard footsteps running along the floorboards outside the door and shouting voices. My hand started to shake more than it had been before.

My heart stopped and I held my breath. Something must have happened and by the sound of it, it wasn't anything good.

My hand seemed to move without my permission, grasping the doorknob and opening the door, but only a crack. I peeked through just as a group of people, made up of the head cabin counselors, crowded around the entrance of the doorway off to my left. They wanted into the infirmary, but one of the other kids from the Apollo cabin, Austin, was standing at the door and blocking them.

"I'm sorry," he said above all the other voices of the other demigods. "Please, just wait outside." His eyes were rimmed red and his voice was fragile, like glass. Despite this, he stood in the doorway like a brick wall.

Reluctantly the counselors went to sit back down. Austin went into the infirmary and shut the door behind him.

It was quiet for a long time.

I stood at my door, watching the door of the infirmary through the crack. My stomach was in knots, my breathing shaky.

When the door to the infirmary opened again, I gripped the doorknob harder and held my breath. It wasn't Austin this time, it was Kayla, another child of Apollo. Her eyes were bloodshot, probably from crying, and her face was pale. Ice filled my blood. Tears of my own flooded my eyes.

The council got up and went to her, slowly this time, seeing her face.

"Pollux," she barely managed to whisper. Pollux pushed his way to the front and exchanged a glance with Kayla. She stood aside to let Pollux through and was about to follow him when Katie stopped her.

"What about Lee?" she asked so quietly I almost didn't catch it. Kayla's eyes filled with more tears. She shook her head before following Pollux and closing the door behind her.

The council stood outside and waited, but the mood in the room had dropped. The silence hung in the air like the fog over a graveyard at night.

It ended when the sobbing started from within the infirmary.

I retreated back into the bathroom trembling so hard I thought for sure I was going to break into a million pieces. I closed the door and sunk to the floor again, covering my mouth. I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks as sobs once again filled my throat.

 _My_ fault.

It was all my fault.

* * *

In the end it was too much at once. I never got to finish my story because there were burial rites that needed to be taken care of. Not just for Lee, and Castor, but for a couple of others, too.

I'd lived at camp long enough to have been to a few funerals (I guess you would call them). And all of them had been very sad—another young life taken away too soon. But this one had to be one of the hardest because I felt responsible for their deaths. I don't think anyone blamed me, I'd tried to prevent this by stealing the string in the first place, but that didn't matter because _I_ blamed me.

If I had just sacrificed myself, we wouldn't even be here in the first place.

I didn't think there was such thing as loving too much. Now I was finding out the hard way that even something like love could be dangerous in large quantities.

Lee's shroud was a brilliant golden yellow, like it'd been taken straight from the rays of the sun. Castor's was a deep purple, embroidered with grape vines. There were two other campers, Clara (daughter of Ares) and Thomas (son of Demeter). Clara's shroud was a brilliant crimson with the head of a boar and a spear on it. Thomas's shroud was also a golden yellow, but it wasn't brilliant like the sun, it was softer on the eyes, like a field of wheat, and still just as beautiful.

Four was minimal loss, but it was still loss.

The camp gathered in the amphitheater. I stood at the very back, near the entrances/exits. I wasn't sure how welcome I was with my own cabin. There had been some kind of silent agreement after the announcement that we'd lost Castor and Lee that I'd stay. For now, anyway.

Pollux tried to say a few words, but they got caught in his throat. Instead, he grabbed the torch and lit the row of shrouds. I watched as the sparks curled up into the night sky.

* * *

It was odd because suddenly I'd become a part of the camp again, as if nothing had ever happened. As if I had never left and become a prisoner on Luke's ship. As if I'd never unofficially joined Kronos's side.

As I said, we'd had deaths happen at camp before. I'd seen camp life go on afterward, and felt how strange it all was for the camp to go back to its usual routine. It may seem like you'd never get used to something like that, and in some ways, you never do. I guess the weird feeling just goes away faster.

This time, it didn't go away as quickly.

The next day was spent treating the rest of the wounded, which was basically everyone. My arm was back in its sling, but I was helping out in the infirmary with the rest of the Apollo kids. Even though I couldn't heal magically, they gave me plenty to do, handing out supplies, ambrosia, nectar, checking up on other campers who'd be staying a little longer than others, etc.

It was actually kind of nice. I only dreaded when it would end. Because it would. And then they'd remember what I'd done.

The day passed quickly and quietly. There was always a silence that seemed to settle onto the camp when we had to burn shrouds. Like a moment of silence for the fallen campers out of respect.

When dinner came around I tentatively took a seat at the Apollo cabin's table because I wasn't sure where else to sit, and I didn't exactly want to miss dinner. No one said anything. Everything seemed to settle back down into the usual, like the past few years hadn't even happened. Of course, they certainly had, but it didn't quite feel like it. I guess I'd been expecting more outrage or anger, seeing as I felt like a traitor. Maybe it was only me who felt that way. (Well, me and maybe some in the Ares cabin, based on Clarisse's earlier remarks.)

The worst part about it was I couldn't tell if I was imagining people thinking I was a traitor and didn't deserve to be back here or if it was just me.

When dinner ended, the Apollo cabin promised a fun sing-along to help lift people's spirits. The moment of silence had ended, it was time to begin the healing process. I found it almost admirable that they would still hold the sing-along even though they'd lost one of their own. I mean, they'd done this countless times before, but as long as I'd been here, I don't think the Apollo cabin had lost a sibling to death.

Anyway, the campers went down to the amphitheater after the Apollo cabin. I followed more slowly, taking it all in. Being back home after so long away, after so long on a demon cruise ship, it felt good to back in a familiar place. Strange, for sure, but also nice.

I sat off to the side as I had when I'd first been claimed, still not comfortable singing on stage with the rest of my half-siblings. I watched as the flames danced and changed colors. It didn't grow to be as big as it could've been, but considering what had happened just yesterday, it was a nice size.

Half-way through the sing-along someone came to sit next to me. I looked over to see Tyson and flashed back to a similar scene two years ago. It was strange to think so much had changed since then.

"You still do not want to sing with them?" he asked.

"No," I mumbled. "Still not my thing." I paused a moment. "You're not angry with me? You don't hate me?"

"I do not," Tyson answered. "Why do you think I do?"

"Well…because I thought you'd think I'd joined the Titan's side. And they're kind of bad guys."

"Percy told me that you are still a good person," the Cyclops said matter-of-factly. I looked over at him in shock. "He is also a good person. So I believe him."

"Oh." I was stunned. I slowly turned back to face the campfire. I guess it shouldn't have felt odd that Percy was defending me, he'd done that before, but it still did anyway. I didn't know what I'd done to make him think I wasn't a bad person. He seemed to be on the fence about me a lot of the time, so it was interesting that he'd tell Tyson otherwise.

As the sing-along continued, I scanned the stands idly and stopped in shock when I saw Chris Rodriguez. He was sitting next to Clarisse, who looked genuinely happy. They were both singing with the Apollo cabin and holding hands.

He'd survived then? He had been one of the first solo scouts Luke had sent into the maze when we first started exploring it. Seeing as we hadn't heard back from any of our solo scouts, it was shocking to see Chris had survived and made it out.

As the shock faded, I felt a small flame of hope blossom in my chest. If Chris could be accepted back at camp, then maybe I could too. It was also nice to see that despite his used-to-be allegiance to the Titan lord, Clarisse could forgive him. And, yes, from the looks of it, maybe they both liked each other, but still.

Everything seemed to be going okay so far, so you can imagine when I got called back to the Big House after the campfire, my nerves shot through the roof and my brain went to the worst possible scenario. Not only that, but also, the rest of the council had been called back to the Big House.

I was the third to arrive, Mr. D and Chiron were already in the rec room, waiting. When I saw Mr. D I almost didn't recognize him. He was dressed so differently than from what I remembered—he wore a pitch black suit with a deep purple tie and violet dress shirt. His dark hair had been combed back. It was kind of odd, but then I realized that one of his sons had died. He was grieving. I also realized I hadn't seen him all day and wondered if he'd been gone just today or for longer.

Seeing him also made me nervous. For as long as I'd been around monsters that tried to kill me almost on a daily basis, Mr. D scared me more. All that fear from those suffocating vines came rushing back, hitting me like an anvil. Would he blame me for his son's death? Would I be punished for unofficially joining the titan's side?

I stiffly sat down at the opposite end of the ping pong table, across from Mr. D and Chiron. I stared at the table, trying to work through how I wanted to tell them, work out how I wouldn't break down again before I even got half-way through my story.

The rest of the council filed in silently. Michael Yew, the new head counselor for the Apollo cabin had joined the group. I didn't look up from my spot on the ping pong table until Mr. D spoke. My eyes instantly snapped up to him. He was looking directly at me with an emotionless expression. I swallowed hard and tried to keep from fidgeting in my seat.

Chiron had informed Mr. D what had happened at some point today and now Mr. D was looking for the story from me. The whole story. I thought about what Daedalus had said again and took a deep breath. I started from the beginning again and managed to get through the whole story. My voice sounded odd and my throat was dry when I was finished, but I'd finished and that was all that mattered to me. At least in that moment. After I finished, I was worried what Mr. D would say or how he'd react.

No one said anything the whole time. It was a little unnerving. The worst part was Mr. D, who didn't take his eyes off me the entire time. After I was done they continued to stay silent. Finally, Mr. D spoke, making me jump. It was simply to tell me to wait out in the front room while they discussed this. That didn't make me feel any better.

I nodded mutely, stood and exited. I sat on the sofa and stared into the empty fire place. My body felt restless but paralyzed at the same time. I wanted to get up and move, release all this building energy while at the same time I was so nervous I couldn't get myself move. My heart pounded in my chest and with each painful beat I felt more and more panicked.

What if I lost my home? Where would I go then?

When the door to the rec room opened I jumped and stood up, taking a few steps toward it. The head counselors started filing out. I immediately averted my gaze again because I was too afraid that the decision would show in their faces and I wasn't ready to face it. When they had all passed I glanced back at the few as they exited the Big House before turning back to the rec room door.

Taking a deep breath, hands shaking (I gripped the hem of my shirt to try and hide it), I slowly walked inside. Mr. D and Chiron were sitting where I'd last seen them. I hesitantly took a seat across from them. They were both good at hiding their emotions. Eons of practice had to have helped, I'm sure.

"We are allowing you to stay," Mr. D said in a low voice. I couldn't tell if he sounded angry or not. "But be warned, I'll be watching you closely. You slip up _once_ and you'll regret it." His blue eyes glowed with that purple fire and my heart stuttered painfully.

I nodded. "Yes, sir." I said quickly. I wanted to say thank you, too, but after everything that had happened and his threat I didn't think he would appreciate it. After a moment of scrutiny Mr. D disappeared in a puff of purple smoke leaving behind the smell of grapes.

I let out a breath and sunk in my seat. I looked at Chiron, who was looking out the window, looking older than I'd ever seen him before.

"Are you allowed to tell me what you guys talked about, or…?" I asked him. He turned his head to look at me and gave me a sympathetic smile.

"No, afraid not," he answered softly.

"Are you angry?"

"No."

"Disappointed?"

"No, Tori, I'm glad that you came back."

I'll be honest, I was little surprised. I was sure he'd be at least a little disappointed. I'm sure he'd seen a lot of half-bloods go to the wrong side, but that didn't seem like something you'd get used to.

"Why?" I found myself asking.

Chiron sighed and looked back out the window. I waited, tapping my fingers on my knee and chewing my lip.

"Perhaps," he started, not looking at me. "I see that you feel responsible and guilty for a lot of the hardships that this camp has faced." He turned to look at me then. "You do well at hiding it." He gave me a pointed look and I had to look away. It wasn't like it wasn't true. Hearing it from someone else made it too real, though. I still couldn't face myself in a mirror.

"It's late, Tori," Chiron said. "Maybe you'd do well to get some rest."

I nodded silently and stood up stiffly. Half-way out the door I turned back around and bowed to Chiron. "Thank you." I mumbled quickly before spinning around and exiting the Big House before he could respond.

I made my way to the cabins. It was still a little weird to be back here, but I was glad. I was glad my only home hadn't been taken away from me. Maybe I could start to make up for the past two years.

Michael was waiting outside on the porch. He was glaring and came to meet me at the top of the steps. He was short for a guy, _I_ had to look down at him, but his blue eyes were alight with anger and grief.

"Just so you know I voted against keeping you here," he told me in a low voice. "I'll be keeping my eye on you, so watch your step. I don't trust you." With that he headed back inside. I followed more slowly, wondering how the others felt about me. It sounded like Michael blamed me for Lee's death. Would the others, too? It was like Michael had forgotten I'd lost a sibling as well.

This was going to be a long summer.

* * *

I would find out a few days later that Dan wasn't dead, thank the gods. After I'd left, he'd decided to try to go to community college in Manhattan. He hadn't been here over the summer because he was working and participating in a local theater's plays.

He'd visit camp occasionally to catch up with his friends and give them comp tickets for the plays he was in. He also asked about me. A lot. Which only made me feel even guiltier about this whole situation.

On the bright side, no pun intended, he'd offered comp tickets to his most recent play (musical really) he was going to be in, _Guys and Dolls_. I asked Chiron if he could respond that I'd take one, only not tell him it was me because I wanted it to be a…surprise, for the lack of a better word.

Maybe it was mean, disappearing and then showing up two years later at one of his plays, but to be honest I didn't know how to tell him any other way. I mean, not in a "I don't know any other form of communication" kind of way, but more of a "I'm so scared of what he'll think of me and say when I tell him I've come back that I don't know what else to do but support him in something he loves" kind of way. Even then, I was beyond nervous.

A ship full of monsters that wanted to kill me? Yeah, it was pretty scary.

Telling your twin brother, who you already have a rocky relationship with, that you've come back after two years with no other notes to him except one that you wrote before you left? Well, that was downright _terrifying_.

Usually, campers weren't permitted outside of the borders for anything other than quests, but Chiron was allowing me to go. And I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. Mr. D only allowed it because one of my siblings would be going with me. To my dismay it was Michael, but it made the most sense. Still, I wasn't thrilled about it.

The night we left came too quickly. My heart was pounding and my hands were already shaking slightly before I'd even left the camp's borders. Some of it was out of excitement. I was excited to know that Dan had managed to make it out of our deadly lives, for however much a demigod can, and get back into something he loved. I was excited to see him perform again. It always seemed to make him so happy and that's all I wanted for him, was to be happy.

The rest was out of anxiousness, for obvious reasons.

Since this wasn't any sort of quest, one of the harpies would be driving us to the city. Another thing I wasn't thrilled about. I could tell from the hateful glare the harpy was giving me through the rearview mirror that she hadn't let go of all the times I'd dusted her. Even though she'd gotten a break from me for two years straight. It wasn't like I had expected her to. It was just uncomfortable under her gaze. Also, she seemed to have looked at me more than the road and that was unnerving, too.

Things got on without a hitch (for _once_ ) and I was even more excited to find out that Dan would be playing the main character, Nathan Detroit. I wasn't sure how good a relationship Dan had with Michael, but I caught a glimpse of it when Michael started talking to me excitedly about Dan being a lead before he remembered he didn't trust me. It was almost comical. I almost felt… _normal_.

I hadn't been to a play in so long. It almost hurt to come back to a theater, smell the familiar scent of at theater, hear the hushed crowd speaking before the show started and then die down as the house lights dimmed. See the stage light up and the curtain open. The music began to play. It was all very nostalgic.

Throughout the show I managed to become engrossed, forget about my problems and worries for a few hours and just enjoy the show. I almost started crying when my brother came on stage. He looked the same but different, the way it is when you don't see a relative for a few years at a time. He looked like he was doing just fine. And he played a wonderful Nathan.

As the actors did their final bows and the crowd cheered and stood, the anxiousness returned. Reality slowly settled back in and as people started filing out for the meet-and-greet, a rock formed in the pit of my stomach. My hands started shaking again and my throat closed up.

I followed everyone out, slowly. The actors had already exited to greet the patrons. I shuffled around, keeping my eye out for Dan. I wasn't sure if I wanted to approach him or maybe see if he'd spot me. Actually, I wanted him to spot me, but there wasn't a guarantee he would with so many people. It was okay with me and not okay with me at the same time. I wanted him to know I was okay. I wanted to talk to him, to apologize. But I also didn't want to feel his anger and see the hurt in his eyes.

I had already suffered enough loss. I didn't need more.

Michael nudged my arm. "He's over there," he said over the crowd, pointing a few yards off to our right. Sure enough, there he was, standing in the midst of what looked to be a group of his friends. He held a bouquet of flowers in his hand and was laughing and chatting with the group, who were all around his age.

"Are you going to go over there, then?" Michael asked, looking up at me with a raised eyebrow. I looked back at Dan. I didn't want to ruin this moment for him. Michael sighed heavily. "I'm going to. Feel free to follow me. Just don't forget, I'm still watching you."

I rolled my eyes. "I wish you would trust me."

"Give me a reason to," he retorted sharply, giving me a look. I quickly averted my gaze as Michael turned and went over to Dan and his friends. I cautiously lifted my eyes back up to their group, keeping as still as a statue. Breathing almost as much as a statue. Dan greeted Michael with a hug and a huge grin. It made me smile, to see him so happy. Especially after everything we'd been through. Especially after what I must've put him through these past two years.

They chatted for a few moments before Michael did something I hadn't _really_ been expecting him to do, but on some level knew he might do. His expression turned serious and he said something that made Dan's eyes widen and his smile drop. Michael pointed in my direction and Dan's gaze followed. If it was possible, my brother's eyes got even bigger. His mouth hung slightly open.

All I could do was stand there and stare back at him. I wasn't sure what expression I had on my face. All I knew was that I was worried what he was going to say when he came over here. My heart started doing a relay race in my chest. I had to clasp my hands together behind my back to keep them from shaking so violently. My stomach twisted into knots.

Then he was coming toward me, haphazardly shoving his bouquet of flowers into Michael's arms. Behind him, his friends watched him in surprise, shock and confusion. Michael was watching me with cold interest, past his newly acquired bundle flora. Dan weaved his way through the crowd carefully, making sure not to push anyone aside. I couldn't read the expression on his face. The shock had worn off. His jaw was set, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. Still, I couldn't decipher what he was feeling.

I opened my mouth when he got close enough to hear me, but before I could speak he engulfed me into a huge hug.

"I missed you," he murmured in my ear, his arms tightening around me. Tears sprung in my eyes and I wrapped my arms around him, doing my best to swallow the sobs building in my throat.

"I'm sorry," I choked.

Dan pulled away suddenly and spoke with the New York accent he'd used in the musical, "No, no, no, doll. Don't cry. Can't get this suit wet. I'd have to get it dry-cleaned! After that wedding? And do you know how much it costs to have a fiancée for fourteen years?"

I couldn't help but smile and laugh, tears still in my eyes. I swatted his arm lightly and rolled my eyes.

"Shut up," I said as Dan grinned. "I'm sure you'll be fine. After all, you've got the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York."

"Used to, doll, used to." Dan stood taller and straightened his jacket by his lapels before grinning and winking. I laughed at his antics, but my smile faded and I took a deep breath.

"So, you're not…angry with me?" I asked hesitantly. By now people had filtered out, so it was less crowded and quieter. Groups of stragglers hung around still chatting with the actors. Dan's friends were still standing where I'd last seen them, looking at us curiously. Michael hadn't seemed to take his eyes off me, ever cautious.

Dan's smile faded, too and I felt my heart drop.

"Why don't I introduce you to some of my college friends and we can talk about it after I've changed." He held out his arm for me. I nodded, the anxiousness back. I let him lead me over to the group he'd been with when Michael had spotted him and he introduced us all. They all had smiles and good things to say. I was kind of taken aback by how much Dan had told them about me.

There was a little more chatting before they all headed off and it was just me, Dan, and Michael. Dan excused himself to go get out of costume and clean up.

"Sorry for keeping you," I told Michael after a little while. I knew how long it sometimes took to put everything in order after a show.

Michael shrugged, his gaze wandering around the hallway, his arms cross. "It's fine. I volunteered, so." He then looked over at me. I couldn't read his expression, but it made me feel indignant.

"What?" I snapped.

Michael looked away. "Nothing." I rolled my eyes. We waited the rest of the time in silence.

Dan finally exited. "Hey, sorry to keep you waiting—oh, Michael, I thought you'd have…gone back to camp by now."

My half-brother looked at me. I sighed and looked at Dan. "We have a lot to talk about."

Dan's eyes narrowed and he looked between me and Michael with his lips pursed. "Why don't we go back to my apartment," he suggested. "It's not far."

We walked a few blocks in the busy, crowded streets of Manhattan, even at this time of night. Even though it was loud with the sounds of a city that never sleeps, it was utterly silent in the bubble that had formed around Dan, Michael and I. No one said anything all the way to Dan's apartment.

I wasn't sure if the silence on the way here was worse than the silence in the elevator up to Dan's floor.

He was turning the key on the lock when he looked back at both of us.

"I live with five other guys to keep the rent down. Some of them will probably be asleep, so if you guys could be quiet, I'd appreciate it," he explained. I nodded. Michael must've nodded too because I didn't hear him say anything. Dan turned back to the door and opened it. I walked in slowly and quietly, looking around.

It wasn't huge, but it wasn't claustrophobic either. The living room space was almost one with the kitchen, the only thing separating the two being the back of a sofa and a few feet in between. The kitchen had a small island, but limited counter space and all the usual appliances: microwave (though smaller than I'd seen most), fridge, small sink (that was filled with dirty dishes) and a stove. No dishwasher. In the living area was the sofa that divided the space, along with another chair adjacent to it and a small TV sitting on an old, wooden chest. Behind the TV were floor to ceiling windows. Straight across from the front door were more windows.

If I turned the corner, it led to a long hallway with six doors, three on each side.

The whole apartment was surprisingly clean, considering how many resided in it. Other than the dishes piling up in the sink, there weren't junk food wrapper everywhere. There weren't clothes strewn over the back of the sofa or armchair, or resting in a pile on the floor.

Dan led us down to the end of the hall, to one of the doors on the right. It was a decent sized room, but there were storage containers lining the back wall in black and white like a chess board, which told me Dan had more stuff than he had room. It also made me wonder where he'd acquired all that stuff. Then again, it had been at least two years. You could acquire quite a bit of odds-and-ends things over two years.

A small bookshelf rested underneath two more storage units. It was already overflowing with books. Windows were situated above the storage containers. His bed was parallel to the windows, the headboard pressed up against the adjacent wall with the windows. The wall the door was on jutted out a little and had two sliding doors to, what I assumed was, the closet.

His walls were painted generic white, but Dan's posters from all the plays and musicals he'd been in, adorned with signatures of the cast and crew of that production, added color and life to the room.

Dan flicked on the switch and threw his backpack at the foot of the bed. He turned toward me and Michael.

"Would you mind if I talked to my sister?" Dan asked. "In private?"

I looked back at Michael over my shoulder to see his reaction. Even if he didn't agree, I didn't think either Dan or I would take no for an answer. After a long moment of looking between us, lips pursed, Michael turned and started out.

"I'll be right outside," he said as he pulled the door closed. Which I knew also meant: "I'll be listening to make sure you don't try anything funny."

I turned to face Dan. I could feel my heart beating erratically in my chest, which didn't help my breathing.

"Am I angry?" He asked in a low voice. I took a step toward him.

"Dan—" I tried.

"You _left_ ," he interrupted in a louder voice. "Without _any_ warning. And a note telling me that no matter what happens next you'd still love me. What do you think that tells me?" He paused and I tried to explain, but Dan continued before I could say anything. "I was worried sick. For _months_." He gestured behind me to the door. "You can ask Michael—ask anyone in the Apollo cabin—how horrible it was to be in there, how horrible it was to be around me, because of how torn up I was those last two months of summer. I just couldn't understand why you left. And you never even tried to contact me again after that. For _two years_."

"Dan—" I tried again.

"Two years, Tori!" He snapped. His voice lowered. "And then…then I find out that it's because you're with him. With _Luke._ That traitor!"

"Please, let me explain," I said quickly. It didn't occur to me until later that he knew about some of what I'd been up to even though Chiron had told me Dan had asked about me and that he'd told my brother nothing. Either Chiron was lying (which I couldn't see the old centaur doing) or my brother had spoken with someone else during those two years.

Dan opened his mouth as if to say something else. Instead he took a deep breath and turned away from me, running his hands through his hair. He stood with his back to me for a long time. I waited, unable to speak. I wanted to see if he was going to say what he'd been planning.

"I am angry with you," he finally said in a quieter voice before turning to face me again. "But that doesn't mean that I don't love you anymore. It's not like our relationship has never been this complicated. I just…" He trailed off, closing his eyes. "I don't know what to think anymore."

I waited a moment to see if he'd say anything else. When he didn't I spoke, slowly and carefully, afraid he'd interrupt me again. "How much do you know?"

"Just…" Dan waved his hand noncommittally and made a face. "Just bits and pieces. That you went to find Luke. Then became a prisoner…?" He paused and his eyes flickered to my side. "You were hurt." He seemed to realize something then and his eyes darkened. "I thought you were dead." His voice was no higher than a whisper. "For _weeks_." His eyes had filled with tears, but he took a deep breath and continued. "But you'd survived somehow." He let out a big breath of air. "You were in the Labyrinth for a time. And almost died again, damn you." He looked exasperated with me now and I almost smiled despite everything. "And now you're here. I haven't spoken with Percy in a while, so—"

"That little prick, I should've known," I muttered under my breath and glaring at nothing in particular.

"That little prick did what you should've done," Dan retorted, half-joking, half-serious.

"Well, I kind of had other things on my mind," I told him. "Will you let me tell you about it or you going to yell at me some more?"

"Now you're just being unfair."

I sighed. "I know, but will you?"

Dan nodded. "Why don't we take a seat?" He walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge. I followed more slowly and sat down next to him.

And I began my story again. It was easier with my brother, surprisingly. I mean, I thought it would've been harder because of the fact that he was my brother and I'd basically ditched him for two years. Had I known he thought I was dead, I would've done anything to fix that, but as it was, Percy had never told me he was talking to my brother, which pissed me off a little. Even so, I suppose in a way I was kind of glad, too, because, as Dan had said, Percy had done what I should've done.

I'd started my story with my hands in my lap, but by the time I finished, they were at my sides, holding me up. At some point, Dan had grabbed the one next to him. His grip was strong, almost painful. My brother had never been a super emotional person, but his grip told me just how much this had affected him. It tightened when I told him about my near-death experiences. And I felt guiltier for not even trying to get into contact with him. After _two_ years, too. How could that have not crossed my mind?

"I'm okay," I assured him, looking down at our hands as his grip tightened again. "Honestly, I'm all right. I'm here now." I sucked in deep breath. "But enough about me. You're not at camp anymore."

Dan laughed, but his grip didn't lesson. "Yeah, well, I felt like it was time to get away from that place. Not that I don't like it there, just that…I needed a break from it."

Dan told me about his two years in community college. I hadn't known he'd gotten his G.E.D. and he'd meant to tell me that he had, but everything had happened so fast: our reconciliation, Tantalus becoming the new activities director, me leaving. And after I left, he'd decided to try for a normal life. Monsters bothered him occasionally, more than he really liked, but it hadn't been as bad as he thought it'd be.

He was friends with two of his roommates—Toby and Rafael. The other three were Toby and Rafael's friends. He also had a group of theater friends, who'd become like family to him. Toby and Rafael liked theater, but weren't involved in it like Dan was. Toby was looking to go into digital art and Rafael was a poly-sci major. Two of their friends were more into the STEM sciences and the third was majoring in Psychology.

Dan had been in a bunch of musicals and plays. His focus was obviously theater, but he'd taken some classes in film acting since beginning in community college. He'd also taken up an interest in animation. He even told me about his crush. Her English name was Antoinette and she was an international student from Malaysia. She was a part of Dan's theater family, usually in the chorus or an extra in musicals and plays, respectively; hadn't gotten a main role yet, but was always auditioning and practicing and working hard. He admired how much she loved theater. They'd become very close over the past two years and now he was starting to feel more for her.

It all sounded so easy. So _normal_ I couldn't help but smile. I was also a little envious. Not just his relationship drama, but also his life had become so mundane compared to mine and I _wanted_ that.

By the time we were finished talking, it was around two in the morning. Someone knocked softly on the door before opening it and peeking in.

He had curly dark hair, deeply tanned skin and brown eyes with a little heavier build.

"Hey, dude, there's a guy sleeping outside your door. Is there something you're not telling me?" he said. Then he noticed me and his eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. "Oooh," he exclaimed like he'd just seen the light. "Never mind. I'll just…leave now." He started to pull away.

"Toby," Dan called. "This is my _sister_ , Tori."

Toby pushed the door open and stood in the doorway. "You know, now that you mention it, you do look like siblings." Toby held out his hand and gave me a winning smile. "I'm Toby, nice to meet you." He winked.

"I've got a boyfriend," I told him as I took his hand.

"Hey, that's cool, so do I." Toby shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets.

I felt my face grow hot. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me to assume."

Toby shrugged again. "My boyfriend tells me I'm a flirt." He rolled his eyes. "I have no idea what he's talking about." He winked and I tentatively smiled, glad he hadn't made it awkward. "I can see that your brother talks a lot about us to you, though." His eyes slid over to Dan.

"Don't blame Dan too harshly, it's mostly my fault," I said.

"Her boyfriend's trying to take over the world," Dan quipped helpfully.

I smiled at Toby as I elbowed my brother in the ribs.

"Well I'm not _wrong_ ," Dan muttered.

"You really are siblings," Toby commented. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Tori." He looked at Dan. "See you in the morning, dude."

"Nice to meet you, too," I said.

"'Night, man," Dan said.

With that Toby turned and exited, but not before giving Michael—who was sitting, with his back against the wall next to the door, snoring away—a quizzical look. As the door closed, Toby shook his head and made a face that said, "Don't ask. It would be a mistake." Couldn't blame him, really.

Being reminded that I wasn't technically supposed to be here, I turned back to Dan. "I should get going now. It was good to see you. And I'm sorry. Again."

Dan pulled me into a hug. "It was good to see you, too. We should talk. A lot more." He pulled back, keeping his hands on my shoulders and gave me a look. I rolled my eyes.

"I can't guarantee anything, but I'll try," I promised. "If worst comes to worse, I'm sure Percy would be happy to update you on what's happening in _my_ life."

Dan laughed. "Cut the kid some slack. He's saved your life."

"I've saved his life, too."

"Just…don't be a stranger around here, okay?" Dan asked in a more serious tone.

I nodded. "I promise." We hugged again and then it was time to go. I was reluctant to leave, I'd liked hanging out with my brother. It'd been rough at the beginning, but we'd settled down into something ordinary. It was nice to have ordinary for once. Especially after two years of unordinary.

I nudged Michael with my shoe, who sprang into action. Upon realizing it was just me, he glared at me. With a quick goodbye to Dan, we headed back downstairs and onto the still busy streets of Manhattan. Michael did a loud taxi cab whistle and a few moments later the camp van pulled up to the curb. The harpy inside glowered at me, but since they always that, I couldn't tell if she was angry we'd kept her out so late, or if she just hated me.

I was assuming it was the latter. Or maybe she was afraid she'd miss the one night someone was caught out past curfew.

I sat in the back again and watched as the city slowly turned into country, the city's lights making it look like dawn was breaking a few hours early.

And then that, too, slowly faded.


	33. Between the Good and Bad is Where You'll Find Me

The one thing that I hadn't told the truth about? The spy. I'd lied, told them that I didn't know who Luke picked as the new spy, that he never told me and I never thought to ask. (Okay, so maybe I had lied or not revealed the whole truth about more than just _one_ thing, like Daedalus had suggested, but some of the things just felt too personal to reveal to a whole group of people.)

Silena approached me a few days later. I was passing by the Aphrodite cabin when she ran out, down the steps, grabbed my arm and then pulled me into the cabin before I had time to ask what she was doing.

Cabin 10 was just as clean as ever. And smelled heavily of whatever that perfume was. It wouldn't have been a bad-smelling perfume, but every time I stepped in there, I felt like I was breathing straight perfume and no air. I also really hated the color scheme, but that was just me. The colors went well with each other, I just wasn't a pastel kind of person.

I pulled my arm out of her grasp and started to ask, "Silena, what—?" but broke off and veered away from her like she was the poison on Kampê's swords when she turned to face me, holding out her charm bracelet with the scythe on it. Her blue eyes were brimmed with tears.

"I don't want to be the spy anymore," she said, holding the bracelet out further. "Now that you're back, _you_ can be the spy again."

"I can't do that," I told her, to which she stopped pacing and turned to look at me. "I'm trying to make amends, not make things worse."

"Thanks," Silena muttered, looking away.

"That's not how I meant it," I told her quickly. "You've heard my story, you know how complicated this all is."

" _Please_ ," she begged, holding up the bracelet again, more tears filling her eyes. "I can't…can't do it anymore. Not after…Lee a-and Castor." She looked down, holding the bracelet to her chest. Her lower lip trembled. "I wanted to stop. Before now, even. But…but Luke blackmailed me. He threatened to tell the camp that I was the spy." She shook the bracelet. "Please! Just take it, I don't think I can handle this anymore!"

I forced myself from my daze—Luke had blackmailed her? Why hadn't I been aware of this?—and grabbed Silena's shoulders.

"Calm down," I said in a strained, but low voice. "Listen, if they can accept me back into camp after two years with Luke, surely they'll understand why you were they spy. As long as you tell them, I'm sure we can all work something out."

Silena was gripping the bracelet to her chest again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them.

"You're right." The daughter of Aphrodite nodded. I let go of her shoulders and took a step back, taking a deep breath of my own. "That…that makes sense."

"Okay," I said slowly. "We're good then?"

She nodded again. "But…will you be there with me when I tell them? Please?"

I didn't really want to, but I found myself nodding. Silena and I weren't close. But I knew just how torn up she must be feeling about all this. And suddenly I realized that someone else here may actually feel as guilty as I was for the deaths of our friends. I didn't feel quite as lonely as before.

It seemed like a good plan. She'd tell them, they'd hopefully work something out, she'd stop being the spy and then Kronos wouldn't get any more information updates about any future war preparations.

We would never know how that would turn out, however, because the Fates had other plans.

I was at the archery range a few days later. Just practicing. There was no one else around. It felt good to just practice without the threat of monster attacks for once. It seemed like every time I had picked up a bow in the past two years had been out of self-defense.

I'd just let another arrow go when Silena came running up to me almost in hysterics. To be honest, I was so used to being on a monster-infested ship, I almost pulled an arrow on her. A new habit I'd formed and would have to be careful about now that I was in a place that wouldn't have monsters freely roaming around. Not with the magic border stronger than ever.

Even so, she'd scared me enough to get my heart going. I gripped my bow and notched arrow, reminding myself that there was nothing to be afraid of or defend myself from here.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked, as Silena finally reached me.

"He…he found out!" she gasped through sobs and sniffles. "I-I don't know what to do. I don't want to do this anymore."

I quickly put my arrow back into my quiver and shouldered my bow. I wrapped a tentative arm around her shoulders—because I didn't know how close we were and also I wasn't very good when it came to comforting people, I didn't think—and started to lead her back to the cabins. I rubbed her arm because Dan had done that with me when I was upset and he'd put his arms around my shoulders. So had Luke.

"Okay, just take some deep breaths," I instructed in a soft voice. "We'll talk about this. Is your cabin empty?"

Silena shook her head, still crying softly and wiping her nose.

As we got closer to the U of cabins, I looked over at mine and saw my siblings exiting for some activity I probably should be participating in. However, right now, Silena was my top priority. It wasn't like I hadn't been late to things before.

I slowed our walk and waited until they were well on their way. It looked like they were heading toward the woods. I racked my brain trying to remember my activities schedule, but it was buzzing with so many things I couldn't access that memory at the moment.

I led Silena inside and called out, to make sure no one else had hung back for any reason. When I was sure we were alone, I sat Silena down on my bed, handed her a box of tissues and got her a glass of water. She blew her nose and took the glass, taking a small sip. Her hands were shaking.

"Okay, who found out what?" I asked carefully. I was standing in front of her.

More tears filled Silena's eyes, but she took a big gulp of water and blinked a few times.

"Kronos," she whispered. "I…I don't know how, maybe he can listen in when he wants to with the charm, but he found out what we were planning to do…" Her voice got thick and she had to pause and take another drink of water. "He threatened me again, only this time he threatened to kill my dad!"

"Wait, I'm sorry, when was this?" I questioned.

Silena sighed heavily and looked out the window near my bed. "Just last night," she whispered. "I have to…to report every few weeks or so. Every few days when something big is happening." Her hands tightened around the glass and her eyes went back to me, wide and panicked. "What am I going to do? I don't want my dad to be killed! He didn't do anything wrong. Why is Kronos doing this? Why can't you just be the spy?"

I hated seeing how torn up Silena was about this, but I just couldn't get myself to take that burden. I had come here hoping to make things right. I already felt guilty enough about everything that had happened. If only I had just sacrificed myself! If only…I didn't love Luke so much. (What a painful thought.)

I still couldn't face myself in a mirror.

Becoming the spy again would only make things worse.

I stepped closer to Silena. "I told you why." I reminded her. "I'm sorry. Truly, I am. But we do have an advantage." I paused. "Do you have the bracelet with you right now?"

Silena's shoulders suddenly tensed and she looked around the cabin like someone was going to spring out and accuse her of being a traitor.

"No," she said, "but I don't feel comfortable leaving it for someone to find."

"I'll make this quick then," I said. "I know you're the spy. We can try and counteract Kronos's plans. I don't want any specifics about when you report to him or where, but I know that you are. And we can use that against him. You can do this, Silena. You've been doing it for two years now and the camp has managed to push back Kronos's plans, right?"

Silena took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "As long as he keeps his promise," she whispered. "As long as Charlie's safe…" Her voice cracked and she broke off. Finally she opened her eyes again and looked at me with a new fire in them. She stood and handed the glass back to me. The box of tissues sat on my bed.

"I'll see you later, then," she said.

I nodded and she exited the cabin. I had to admit she was one tough Aphrodite girl. I sighed and stared at the door for a moment before going into the bathroom and setting down the glass of water. I kept my eyes down, away from the mirrors and quickly exited. Then I headed back to the archery range to practice and let out all the pent up energy that'd built up.

* * *

"That's not fair," I objected. "I'm a part of the Apollo cabin, I should be allowed to go with you."

Even though Michael was shorter than me, he had no trouble getting into my face. "You _left_ the Apollo cabin for two years, and joined _Luke_. You are _not_ a part of our cabin anymore." I tried not to let it sting, but who was I kidding, I'd basically just been disowned. It wasn't like I didn't feel bad enough about all of this.

"We need numbers in this raid, Yew," Clarisse said from behind Michael, reminding me and Michael that the whole Ares cabin, including the rest of the Apollo cabin were listening to us argue.

Both cabins had gathered in the rec room like we usually did for war councils. I'd come along, but right before I could go through the door, Michael had come up to me, blocking my path.

Michael looked back at Clarisse. "I don't trust her, do you?"

Clarisse's eyes strayed to me. Her eyebrows furrowed more and she frowned.

"No, but we need the numbers," she finally said, eyes going back to Michael. I tried to repress a sigh. What should I have expected coming back here? I guess I just didn't realize how hard it was going to be living with people that no longer trusted you. I'd been living with them for so long, I'd taken that aspect for granted. It wasn't just trust, it was the comfort of being, living there without people giving you suspicious glances, whispering to each other when you walked by, or knowing that your every move was being watched. Trust entailed so much more than just people believing what you said and told them.

"And what if she turns on us? What if she's still a spy and has already informed Kronos's forces?" he shot back.

"I told you already, I'm not the spy anymore." I interjected.

Michael spun on me again. "And you just expect us to _believe_ you?"

"I swear on the River Styx I won't turn on you," I said. In the distance thunder rumbled.

Michael opened his mouth to say something, probably yell at me some more, but Clarisse spoke before he could.

"Look, Yew, in the end the Ares cabin is leading the raid," Clarisse said, crossing her arms. "So, I make the final decision. She swore on the Styx, so she's coming with us. Besides, as I said before: we—need—the numbers."

Michael glowered at me for a long, silent moment. I met his gaze evenly.

"Fine." He spun on his heel and stomped into the room. I followed more hesitantly as the others gathered around the ping pong table. The net had been taken down so we could use it to map out an attack plan. I stood at the back, behind the rest of my half-siblings. More of an observer than I was a participant. At least they'd let me stay.

The raid was going to take place in a place called Pennypack Park in Philadelphia. I couldn't see the map from where I stood, so I didn't know the layout. I didn't want to say anything, though, because there was already enough tension in the room, I didn't want to add to it.

"We've gotten a few reports from nymphs, naiads, and satyrs that a handful of Kronos's forces are set up there," Clarisse explained, pointing to the map. "From what they say, a cabin just…popped up overnight. No perimeter has been set up, but they don't want to get close enough to the building to eavesdrop"—she frowned, sounding really annoyed about this—"however, they can tell us that there's a lot of traffic in and out of the building of demigods and monsters alike. Looks like only _dracaenae_ , but we can't be too sure. There could be more that the reports aren't catching."

"Do we at least know what they're doing there?" another Ares camper asked, Sherman, who was staring intently at the map, too.

"Are they close to anything, civilization?" I asked.

Everyone turned to look at me with a mix of emotions. The most common one was anger. Some were staring at me like I had the audacity to speak. I straightened up and took a moment to compose myself. "Look, I'm trying to help out here. I used to help run these operations. I can tell you what you need to know. Help me help you."

There was silence for a while. I didn't like admitting that I used to be behind these types of ops, but it was the truth. I hoped that if I did admit it, it'd give them incentive to actually answer my questions because I knew how these things worked inside and out. I was an asset. A dangerous one in their eyes because I could be a spy, but an asset all the same.

"Car shops and houses, mostly," Clarisse finally said, carefully. Her glare didn't lesson though. "The interstate is nearby. And a school, but that's—"

"Where's the school in relation to their setup?" I interrupted, weaving my way up toward the front, ignoring the angry stares from my own cabin. "Is it a middle or high school?" I questioned as I looked down at the map.

In relation to the park, their little hideout spot was located in the southwestern part of the park, close to the Delaware River. The area was a thinner part of the park, compared to farther north, before fanning out as it hit the river. A red dot marked where the cabin was that was holding some of Kronos's followers.

"Why's any of _that_ important?" one of the other Ares campers asked, Mark, as Clarisse pointed to a spot on the map that was just a little southwest of where they'd setup things. She also turned to another Ares camper, Brandy, and ordered, "Go and check this school out."

She nodded and ran out of the rec room.

"Recruitment," I stated, staring at the point, thinking. "If it's a middle school they're looking for demigods. High school, too, but that's pushing it. They've probably sensed demigods there if they've set up shop."

"But if they're young, wouldn't it be harder for the monsters to sense?" Austin asked from behind me. I'd turned to face him as he spoke.

"Hecate might be helping," I muttered, turning back to face the map, to stare at the point again. "And that's the point. They're young, impressionable." I thought about all the demigods Luke had recruited over the past two years. Most of them were young. Some were older. And some of them were from camp.

Brandy came back into the room. "It's a K through twelve school," she announced.

"All right, so they're recruiting." Michael stepped closer to the table, coming to stand next to me. He looked at me and for a moment it was like he forgot he was supposed to not trust me because I didn't detect any anger or mistrust in his eyes. "What does that mean?"

"The reports that said they were only seeing _dracaenae_ is correct," I said. "There shouldn't be any other monsters we need to worry about. We used them because when we revealed that they were demigods and the Mist stopped working on them, seeing a _dracaena_ was much less…scary than seeing a telekhine or _empousa_."

"But _empousa_ can look more human with the Mist than any monster I've seen," Kayla commented.

"So can any monster with enough Mist work. With Hecate helping, it's pretty easy," I explained. "Besides, we learned that _dracaenae_ work better. When recruitment first began, there was a lot of trial and error."

" _Dracaenae_ and demigods," Michael said. "That shouldn't be too hard." He looked at Clarisse. "We got a plan of attack?"

Clarisse nodded, an excited glint in her eye at the prospect of going into battle. "I have a few ideas, yeah."

We learned a lot of things at camp. A lot of them were physical. Some of them were recreational. The rest of them were learning how to make battle plans based on the layout and how many the other side had and where they were positioned, etc. We'd also, as a camp, had come up with attack strategies with code names we could use during battle to help us coordinate things.

Going off the reports we got about their cabin, Clarisse and Michael finally agreed on a battle plan. We were going to take two pegasi with us, just in case we needed aerial support. No one would be riding them, they'd be following us and would come if we called. When we got to the cabin, we'd split up into two groups. Some Ares and Apollo kids at front and some Ares and Apollo kids at the back. The Apollo kids would be in the trees taking down _dracaenae_ , while the Ares kids attacked head-on. We had the Hephaestus kids make a smoke-bomb to get them to flee the cabin.

Clarisse would've liked to have more people, but seeing as this was a relatively small raid _and_ the other campers were off on different missions for Chiron there was only the Ares and Apollo cabins left.

At one point, one of the Ares campers had considered just throwing a few controlled Greek firebombs down on the cabin, but in the end, with some heated yelling between the Ares campers and Apollo campers, decided it was too dangerous. There were too many factors to consider. Greek fire was so unpredictable, even if we made it so the flames would be controlled. We also didn't know if they were keeping their recruits in the cabin for the time being, if they had any. I think everyone was also hesitant to harm the other demigods. They'd joined the wrong side, sure, but they were still demigods. Some of them might even be people we knew.

On our way out of the last meeting, to make sure everyone knew what they were doing and solidify the plans, Michael caught my arm. I looked back at him.

"What?" I hissed, pulling my arm out of his grasp and taking a step away. He just glared at me until everyone had left. When we heard the door to the front room slam closed he finally spoke.

"Clarisse is letting you come," he started. "But don't think this makes me, or them, trust you anymore than before. There are ways to get around swears. So you'd better watch yourself."

Without another word or waiting for a response, he exited the room, making sure to shove my shoulder on his way out.

I took a deep breath before following him.

The next day, around ten in the morning, we gathered at the top of Half-Blood Hill. I knew from previous experience that recruiters liked to take the half-bloods back to base around lunch time. It was easier and took a lot less effort than following them home. If they had family, the Mist helped mislead the family and anyone else involved (like cops).

Everyone was dressed for battle with breastplates, helms, shields and weapons of our choice. There were a lot of serious expressions, though the Ares cabin's eyes had an excited twinkle in them.

We were taking two of the vans to get to the park. Since no one in the group could legally drive, harpies would be driving us there.

The ride to our destination was the worst. It wasn't that we were going into battle—I'd done that so many times, it'd become my life—it was more like the building anticipation was triggering my ADHD too early. I couldn't sit still the whole ride there. There was so much energy buzzing in my body that I felt I could run the whole way there.

It was also probably because I still felt I didn't belong. I was home, but home had changed. Or rather, _I_ had changed. So many things had happened to me over the past two years that what used to be comforting and safe no longer felt that way. I looked away from the windows and down at the bow sitting in my lap, one of my legs bouncing incessantly. I stroked the wood with my thumb.

At least I could shoot an arrow without having a flashback to the Labyrinth. That had been a hard one to get over. It had been a long, slow, arduous process.

I looked back out the window and watched as everything zoomed past cities and suburbs as we continued to speed along toward Philadelphia.

We arrived at the school that was near the small encampment just before noon, just before lunch at the school, and parked in the back part of the parking lot so we could unload. We'd planned for the harpies to stay there unless the vans needed to be moved, in which case we'd made a different rendezvous point a few blocks away, at the curb of a different building.

We exited the parking lot on the northeast side and followed the sidewalk down toward the park and underneath some train tracks. (I was at the back of the group. Apparently they didn't trust me enough to want me here in the first place, but enough to put me at the back. Emotions won out over logic this time.) After a few more yards, we approached an opening in the fence that surrounded the park. A well-used path led straight into the trees and past where some of Kronos's men were.

The Mist must've been working double time this morning since no one driving by stopped to question a group of kids dressed for battle with weapons as they headed into the woods. Clarisse was at the front because the Ares cabin was leading this raid, but Michael was also up front with her. They were both looking at a map. The rest of us were following behind, but keeping a lookout, weapons drawn. I had my bow drawn.

After a little while of walking, we stopped suddenly. Both Clarisse and Michael looked up from the map and to their left.

Clarisse turned to face the group and gestured for us to come closer. We gathered up so she wouldn't have to talk too loud and attract attention, just in case there were patrols. Even though we didn't have reports about them patrolling. Apparently, they weren't expecting resistance from Camp Half-Blood.

"We're close now," she said. "Just around fifteen minutes or so in that direction." She pointed to where she and Michael had looked a few moments ago. "Stay on alert. Remember, don't shoot to kill unless it's a monster."

We went off the path then, and started our trek through the woods. We made sure to make as little noise as possible. It was a bit hard with a group of people, but the dirt really helped soften our footsteps.

August had just begun, so it was decently warm, even in the shade. The trees had all their leaves. It blocked my view of the sky almost completely. If I looked up I'd see tiny patches of pale blue. Through those pockets, I could see rays of sunbeams, shifting as the leaves did when a breeze blew through.

The fifteen minutes Clarisse had talked about felt like hours, but we finally arrived at the cabin. It was bigger than I pictured it. And trees had been cleared away to make room for it, creating a clearing about the size of baseball diamond (not including the in- or outfields). Clarisse held up her fist and we stopped in our tracks. She exchanged a look with Michael and they both nodded. He headed off to the right, around the cabin, along the tree line, to the back along with half the Ares and Apollo cabins. I was in his group.

The Apollo kids climbed into trees in a wide semi-circle around the back. What was left of the Ares cabin hid behind the trees, but in a way they could quickly form a phalanx and lock shields on Mark's command.

There was a few moments of absolute silence before the sound of glass shattering rang through the clearing, immediately followed by a loud bang. I watched the cabin as thick white smoke poured out from underneath the doorway and cracks in the walls. There was yelling and commotion inside. I readied my bow just as the back door burst open.

Demigods dressed for battle came stumbling out first, retching and coughing. Mark and his siblings leapt from their hiding spots and got into position, spears bristling over their locked shields at the disoriented demigods.

The _dracaenae_ followed, the smoke seemingly having no affect, so I focused on them, shooting at the chinks in their armor or in their eyes, where their helmet didn't cover. Soon the clearing was filled with smoke and sulfurous dust.

The smoke cleared faster than I would've thought though. By the time Mark's team had knocked out the demigods who'd stumbled out first, there was another group who'd regained their bearings. Some were already in the clearing, weapons drawn, ready to face the Ares kids. A few more came out of the cabin with more _dracaenae_ as Mark advanced.

From the other side, battle cries and sounds of swords on swords, and swords on shields rang through the air.

I kept shooting down the snake-women, occasionally getting an enemy half-blood in the arm or leg or foot to incapacitate them, make them easier targets for the ground troops. Still, there were quite a few more demigods and monsters than I thought could fit in the cabin. They seemed to just keep pouring out in a never-ending stream. As fast as the me and my siblings could shoot down _dracaenae_ , and as fast as the Ares kids could knock out half-bloods, more replaced them almost immediately.

Soon, I was out of arrows.

I quickly shouldered my bow just in case I'd need it later, jumped easily from where I stood, rolled when I landed and unsheathed my sword as I came up, engaging with an enemy half-blood. She was probably fourteen or fifteen. The anger in her eyes was saddening.

Out of the corners of my eyes, the other Apollo kids had followed because they, too, had run out of arrows. I suppose I could've gotten all the ones that'd hit the dirt as soon as the monsters had disintegrated, but there were too many enemies to take the time to.

I parried her swing before jabbing at her legs. She jumped away before thrusting her sword. I stepped inside and used the butt of my sword to knock her out. A _dracaenae_ replaced her. I carefully avoided stepping on the now unconscious girl so I could fight with the snake-woman. I kept a careful eye on her weighted net.

Was it just me or did I see wariness in the _dracaena_ 's eyes, though? Her movements as she started circling were careful. She held the weighted net aloft, as if to use it, but she seemed…uncertain.

I jabbed at her experimentally. She easily deflected my sword with the shaft of her spear. I didn't have time for this circling-before-attacking-crap, though—we were in the middle of a battle!—so I went on the offense. Either I was out of practice or they were training their _dracaenae_ because she was doing surprisingly well defending herself. I kept my eye on her weighted net, however. I didn't want to be caught off guard because I'd forgotten she'd had it. I'd done it once before.

I'd just jabbed and was taking a step back to avoid her spear's tip when she used that moment to throw her net at me. Like I'd practiced, I hit the floor and rolled as the net flew over me. Swinging my sword out at the monster as I came out of my roll. My sword went just below the snake-woman's armor, where the hips would've been had she been a human. With a screech she burst into sulfurous dust, her spear and armor dropping to the ground.

Breathing heavily, I stood and started to scan the battlefield just as I heard someone shout, "Will!"

I recognized Michael's voice. I spotted him, trying to get past an enemy half-blood, just barely focusing on them. His eyes kept going past his opponent. I followed his gaze and saw Will on the ground, looking up at another enemy half-blood. His sword was lying in the grass beside him. His eyes were wide with fear. The other demigod stood over him and started to lift their sword.

I quickly glanced back at Michael, who was furiously trying to get past his adversary. But none of my siblings had been very good swordplay. We were better with bows. I was an exception because I'd trained and trained and trained.

I sheathed my sword and looked around the clearing, desperately trying to find an arrow I could use. There! A few feet to my left. I looked back to Will and the other demigod, who had raised it fully and was now pulling his arm back, getting ready to skewer Will. I lunged toward the arrow and clumsily grasped it in my hand.

Even with my shaking hands, I notched the arrow and pointed it at the demigod. Clarisse's warning rang through my ears: _Don't shoot to kill unless it's a monster_.

I raised my arrow slightly higher, aiming for their hand. Their arm tensed and I let my arrow go. They screamed and dropped their sword, bringing their hand, which now had an arrow through it, to their chest.

I quickly ran up to them, unsheathing my sword and knocking the demigod with the butt of my sword over the head. They crumpled to the ground and I turned toward Will.

"Are you okay?" I asked, shouldering my bow and holding out my left hand.

His eyes widened suddenly and he leapt up, tackling me to the grass. As I was falling I saw an arrow whiz over us and embed itself in the spot I'd just been standing. Based on the arrow's trajectory…. Both Will and I looked up at the sky at the same time.

"Is that a…" Will started, trailing off.

"Flying chariot?" I finished.

I wasn't sure if my eyes were deceiving me or not, but in the sky above us was a chariot pulled by two pegasi.

Michael came running over, then.

"Will!" he called again, helping him stand up. I quickly got to my feet, too. "Are you all right?" Michael's eyes darted over Will trying to decide if he'd sustained any injuries.

I watched the chariot as it circled around the clearing.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Will answered. "Thanks to Tori."

"Tori?" Michael asked, like he was just now noticing my presence.

I glanced briefly at Michael out of the corner of my eyes. He was giving me a suspicious look through narrowed eyes. I turned my gaze toward the sky again. There were two standing in the chariot. One of them was holding the reins, while the other shot arrows, and threw javelins and spears down at our side.

I swiped up the arrow that had almost hit me and nocked it.

"We've got to get that away from them," I said, shooting a spear off track, hoping it would miss its mark enough to not mortally harm or kill any of the half-bloods from camp.

I heard the sound of slithering to my left just as Will said, "Tori—" to warn me. But I was prepared, having heard that sound too many times before. I lowered my bow and turned, unsheathing my sword. I easily deflected the _dracaena_ 's strike before disarming her with one of the first moves Luke had taught me when I arrived at camp. The snake woman tried to throw her weighted net but I quickly slashed my sword through her neck. The net and empty armor collapsed to the ground.

"We need to call the pegasi," I said, to Will and Michael as I scanned the field. There were a lot of unconscious demigods and a lot of empty armor. One Apollo kid and one Ares kid were also among the unconscious.

My stomach twisted into knots. I hoped they weren't dead.

The ones who were left were fighting more monsters and demigods. I wondered briefly how the other side was doing.

I realized neither Will nor Michael had said anything for a while and turned to face them.

"Are you guys okay?" I asked. They were staring at me with shocked eyes. "We're kind of in the middle of something important." I snapped my fingers in their faces and they blinked, coming out of their spell.

"I'll call for them," Will said. "It looks like you guys are needed." He gestured his head toward two of our demigods. One of them, Cressida, was having difficulties fighting an enemy demigod. The other, Sherman, from Ares, was fighting a _dracaena_ , but a half-blood was sneaking up on him.

"You'll be okay?" Michael and I asked at the same time. We exchanged a look as Will laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"I'll be fine," he said. "I'll keep watch on the chariot and try not to get myself injured."

"At least pick up your sword again," I said before turning and running over to Cressida just as her sword was knocked from her hand. Michael was next to me before he veered off toward Sherman and quickly engaged the half-blood who'd been sneaking up on Sherman. Will's sonic whistle echoed through the clearing.

I quickly intercepted and stepped between Cressida and the enemy demigod. I blocked his strike and locked our swords momentarily.

"Are you okay?" I asked, looking at Cressida over my shoulder. She nodded. I turned back to the demigod, shoving him back and readying my sword.

With a battle cry, the enemy demigod came forward. He was well-trained. I had to really focus on avoiding his blade. It was just a flurry of dodging, parrying, striking, and blocking. I was trying to find an opportunity to knock him out, but he'd seen what happened to his comrades and was staying a sword's length away from me. I had to disarm him if I was going to get any closer to him. He wasn't giving me a chance to do that, either.

Behind me, I heard Cressida gasp.

"What's wrong—" I started just as I heard Will's voice scream, "Michael!"

I swung my sword at the demigod's head. He ducked as I thought he would, so I twisted, lifting my foot and kicking him in the temple. It was a little dirty, but Michael was in trouble and I wanted to be able to help in any way I could.

The half-blood dropped the rest of the way to the ground and I turned to look to see what was wrong.

The flying chariot was circling over our side of the field and the one who had been throwing weapons down into the melee, had thrown a javelin down, straight at Michael. Michael was still too preoccupied with the half-blood to notice. I was too far away to reach him. Even so, both Cressida and I started toward him.

Will got to him first, knocking him out of the way. Will cried out as the javelin easily sliced open his side before embedding itself into the ground.

"Will!" I cried as Cressida did. I pushed myself harder. The other demigod was still there. I got to them and pushed the enemy half-blood back before he could hurt any of them. My vision was tinged with red. I knocked away his strike before kicking him in the chest. He stumbled back and I followed, bringing the butt of my sword back and then swinging it toward his head. I hit him so hard his helmet flew off before he hit the grass.

I turned back to Will, Michael and Cressida. They'd pulled Will away from the javelin and turned him onto his back. His breathing was labored and a thin sheen of sweat had developed on his forehead. His eyes were glazed over. Cressida had her hands on Will's side. They were covered in blood. Michael was ripping up the bottom of his shirt to help stem the bleeding.

I kept my sword at the ready, looking around the clearing. Watching the chariot closely. But it'd circled to the other side of the cabin. Was the battle really still going on over there?

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked tightly, fighting the want to drop my sword and kneel next to Will along with my other siblings.

"We need to get him some nectar and ambrosia, back to the van," Michael said, his voice shaking along with his hands as he pressed his ruined shirt on top of Cressida's hands. Cressida had tears in her eyes as she stared down at Will, pressing her hands to Will's wound harder.

I heard the flapping of wings and looked up, lifting my sword, afraid the chariot had come back. I was relieved to see that it wasn't the chariot, it was our pegasi. That feeling quickly disappeared when I saw the chariot wheel around to face the pegasi. If they suspected those winged horses were coming to help us, the enemies would no doubt try to shoot them out of the sky.

I sheathed my sword before quickly scrounging up arrows from around the clearing, carefully watching the skies. When I saw something flash in the sunlight, I nocked an arrow and shot at it, intercepting it. I kept doing this, even as the pegsi landed and galloped over to us. The chariot circled overhead.

I was surprised how many weapons they had, honestly. Were they going to run out any time soon?

I didn't have nearly enough arrows, but I shot at the chariot to keep their attention. Michael helped Will and Cressida onto the pegasus and they quickly flew off.

"Keep them busy down here, I'm going up to their level," Michael said in a dark voice, mounting the other pegasus. His eyes blazed with rage and a fierce protectiveness.

I nodded. "Got it." I shot my last arrow as Michael took to the skies. As he engaged, I gathered up more arrows and checked on the now two Ares and one Apollo campers that had been downed. (They were still breathing, thank the gods.) When I had a handful of arrows, I looked back up.

Michael was flying right next to the chariot, locked in battle with the one demigod who'd been throwing the projectiles down. Sword on sword. The other demigod was trying keep the pegasi and the chariot steady as his comrade fought. She tried steering it so that it might ram into Michael's pegasus, but Michael was surprisingly good as maneuvering on a pegasus. He was on a mission.

I wanted to help more, but they were flying around too much. I couldn't keep running around the clearing, trying to keep up with them. I mostly stayed put where I was and shot arrows, trying to throw the driver off or distract the other swordsman. The chariot stayed behind the cabin, probably too busy to make wide circles around the whole cabin now.

I didn't want to shoot at the pegasi, I didn't want to hurt them because I knew a lot of the pegasi that Luke had taken under Kronos's command were there as captives. They couldn't be happy up there with the enemy.

At one point, the chariot turned, with the driver's side facing me. I saw her gripping the reins and instantly got an idea, something I wished I'd thought of sooner. It was risky, considering it might throw Michael off, too, but this battle wasn't going to go on for much longer. Even though Michael was doing well on his own up there, the enemy had the advantage.

I lifted my bow and arrow and took a deep breath. I only had a few seconds before they'd fly a different way and my opportunity would be lost. As I let out my breath I let my arrow go, hoping they didn't move before it got there.

I held my breath and kept holding it as the arrow hit its mark. The girl yelped and stumbled back, reflexively letting go of the reins. Her foot slipped off the back of the chariot and she went tumbling toward the ground with a scream. My stomach knotted, but I kept my focus on the chariot, trying to swallow the nausea.

The chariot lurched to the side as the pegasi started wildly flapping their wings and trying to break free of the reins connecting them to the chariot. Michael veered away as the other guy stumbled over to the driver's side and took the reins in his hands. As he tried to get the pegasi back under control, Michael flew back toward the chariot and jumped into the now open space. The chariot lurched again.

I took a step toward them, but there wasn't anything I could now.

They grappled a little before Michael managed to push the other demigod away from the reins and right out the back of the chariot. His scream ripped through the air like the girl's had. I gritted my teeth as my nausea rose and my stomach churned.

It didn't seem fair that they could so easily kill their own, but I always felt sick at the mere thought of hurting them. But, then, maybe that meant I was on the right side, with the right people.

Michael grabbed the reins, then, and managed to get the pegasi under control. Thankfully, they hadn't hurt themselves when they'd started struggling the first time. He steered the chariot toward me and landed, coming to a stop next to me.

"Hop in, we should check on the other side," he said. I jumped in and grabbed hold of the front as Michael spurred the pegasi and we soared into the air. I'd ridden a pegasus a few times before, but I'd never ridden in a chariot and never a _flying_ one before. It was terrifying, but also absolutely fantastic. The wind blowing through my hair, whistling in my ears, the height we were at, it was all amazing.

The ride was short to the other side. As we flew over the battlefield, it mirrored ours: piles of empty armor littered the grass, along with unconscious (at least I hoped they were all unconscious) demigods. There was a small group congregated near the front door of the cabin. Michael landed a few yards away. We hopped off and ran toward the group. There was one Ares and two Apollo not there, and I hoped beyond hope they weren't dead.

"Report," Clarisse said as soon as we were in earshot.

"The enemy has been defeated on our side _and_ we got their chariot." Michael gestured to the chariot behind us with his thumb.

Clarisse nodded, looking pleased but her eyebrows stayed furrowed. "Good. We found two half-bloods they were trying to recruit. We're bringing them back to camp. They're just inside. But first we need to treat our wounded. Any casualties on your side?"

"A few unconscious," I told her. "And…" I looked at Michael as he looked at me and together we said, "Will."

"We need to go check on him," Michael told Clarisse, already turning and running toward the chariot.

"We'll bring back some nectar and ambrosia," I said quickly before following Michael.

Even though the chariot was pretty fast, the ride seemed to take forever. I was almost dreading going back to the van, afraid of what I'd find. We couldn't lose Will, we just _couldn't_.

Michael landed next to the van, not caring if anyone saw us. Hopefully, the Mist was doing its work.

He was off before it'd even stopped moving, which was kind of dangerous, considering he had held the reins.

The van's side door was open. Will was sitting up on the edge, with Cressida next to him. He still looked pale, but his eyes were no longer glassy and his breathing seemed to have returned to somewhat normal.

"Are you okay?" Michael demanded as soon as he got up to them.

"I'll be fine," Will assured in a weak voice. "The wound isn't completely healed, but it's much better than before. Cressida did a bang-up job with my bandages." He nudged her with his elbow. She smiled and rolled her eyes, but I could tell how relieved she was Will was going to be all right. We all were relieved.

Michael let out a hefty sigh before pulling Will into a hug. "Don't ever worry me like that again." His voice was fragile.

"I'm okay, Michael," Will said softly, wrapping his arms around his brother.

I took a deep breath and blinked away my tears. Lee's loss had been really hard on the Apollo cabin, even after all this time. And now we were going into war, with the titan lord no less.

And I could've prevented it….

"Michael," I said quietly, wanting to get my mind off that. Michael reluctantly pulled away from Will and turned to look at me. His eyes were misty. "The others." I reminded him.

His eyes cleared and he straightened up, nodding. "We'll need the ambrosia and nectar we brought along."

Cressida stood and hopped into the van, carefully stepping past Will so she could get to the back of the van, where we'd piled the food of the gods.

"I'll come and help," Will said, starting to stand. Michael put a hand on Will's shoulder and gently eased him back down.

"No, you're staying here and resting up," Michael said sternly. "The other Apollo kids have got this handled."

"I feel so useless!" Will complained as Cressida came back out, in her arms, a large box filled with several baggies of ambrosia and canteens of nectar.

"You are _not_ useless, Will," Cressida objected as she handed me the box. I carefully took it, trying not hit Will or Michael. "You're hurt and you need to rest. Don't use up the rest of your energy treating others. We've got this."

Will still didn't look happy about it, but he promised he'd stay and wait for us to come back. Michael made him swear on the River Styx before getting back into the chariot. Cressida mounted the pegasus she'd taken over here. I set the box down in the passenger's side of the chariot before getting in myself, with the box between my feet.

Michael grabbed the reins and we took to the skies again.

About half-way there Michael spoke, "I'm sorry."

I looked over at him, trying to make sure I'd hear right, what with the wind whistling in my ears. Michael kept his eyes fixed on the front. I turned to face front, too.

"Don't be," I replied.

"I…I shouldn't have been so harsh on you," he said. "It wasn't fair."

"You had reason to," I said.

"Still…I guess—Well, I guess I blamed you for Lee's death, more than anything." I could feel his eyes on me now, but I didn't meet them. I wanted to tell him I blamed me for Lee's death too, but that wouldn't be helping he situation any. And it would probably make Michael feel guiltier for doubting me, which I didn't want.

"It's okay," I told him. "If it makes you feel any better, I think a lot of people did." I glanced at him through the corner of my eyes and smiled a little bit to tell him I was trying to make light of the situation.

A small smile appeared on his features, too, but it quickly faded.

"Thank you," he said. "For protecting Will. And Cressida." His hands gripped the reins tighter and he'd fixed his eyes to the front again. We'd just arrived at the cabin.

I turned forward as Michael landed the chariot.

"I lost a brother, too," I reminded him before picking up the box and going over to Clarisse, who was waiting in the entryway to the cabin.


	34. Three Days of Rain

_I stood on Half-Blood Hill, next to Thalia's pine tree, watching the rain pour down just beyond the barrier. It was such a harsh contrast, it shocked me._

_I looked at the storm raging outside. It was dark and grey because of the purplish clouds, and the whole scene almost looked like the color had been leeched from everything. Rain battered the street, trees swayed in the strong wind, the grass was flattened from both the wind and rain._

_I turned to look over my shoulder, out over camp where the sun shined and everything seemed to be in high-definition and Technicolor. The water of the lake was perfectly still, reflecting back the blue sky above. Campers ran around through the inverted U of cabins to different activities, some were at the volleyball court, some were shooting hoops. Others were doing arts and crafts. It was the usual camp hustle and bustle. It was warm, but there was the occasional nice summer breeze blowing through, rustling the leaves on the trees, making small waves in the lake, disrupting the mirror image._

_I turned to face front again and watch the storm._

_I'd been here for two years now and I still couldn't believe that the weather was so controlled._

_Out of everything that had happened over the past two years, there was one thing I was sure of: I missed the rain._

_During the winter was better because they'd let in a little snow and that was always fun, but it wasn't rain. The sound, the cold, the smell before and after. Summer rains weren't exactly the same, but rain was rain._

_I would've gone just outside the border and just stood in the rain, gotten soaked, but I was afraid to. It'd been drilled into me that outside the border wasn't safe. Even though I'd be able to take a step back and be in the safe confines of camp, I was still reluctant. Would I get in trouble if I did?_

_I sighed and lifted my hand, stretching it across the border. I splayed my fingers and couldn't help but smile at the feeling of rain again. It felt like it'd been a long time._

_My mother liked to take me and my brother to the roof of our building and dance when it rained. When I was younger I thought her enthusiasm and childish delight at such a thing was ridiculous. It always made me smile, but I still thought she was being silly._

_She'd always grab me and my brother's wrists and yank us away from whatever we'd been doing, babbling excitedly, as we went up the stairs. The first time she did it, Dan and I followed her, incessantly asking her questions about what we were doing and where we were going, but she just chattered excitedly over us._

_She was a terrible dancer, the moves she made up were ridiculous and over the top, but made me laugh. I stood in the doorway at first, always afraid someone was watching. Dan had no qualms joining her, being from the theater world, where you lived and breathed doing weird things and all kinds of hijinks. Eventually my mom would come over grab my wrist again—her cold hand always a shock—and drag me out into the downpour with Dan._

_It always took me a while to get comfortable, but soon, I'd join them in dancing ridiculously on the roof of our building._

_Afterward, we'd stumble down the stairs, drunk on laughter. We'd dry off and change clothes. Mom would have hot cocoa ready when Dan and I exited our rooms. We'd sit at the kitchen table and sip our drinks as the radio played on the oldies station my mom always liked. She'd joke how if she had one more child we could start a barber shop quartet. Dan and I would laugh and roll our eyes and she'd pretend to get offended, telling us that she was being serious._

_I missed those days._

_"Ah, so you're a rule-breaker, I see," a voice said, startling me out of my memories. I jumped and pulled my hand back into the borders of camp, looking over to my left to see Luke. My heart pounded and I wasn't sure if it was because Luke had scared me or because, well, Luke._

_His blue eyes seemed to reflect the sky over the camp as he grinned slyly at me._

_I rolled my eyes and turned back to the rain._

_"Yeah, well…shut up," I mumbled, cursing silently at my oh-so clever comeback. Luke laughed and I felt my face slowly heat up. I made a point not to look at Luke, but he could probably still see my blush anyway._

_We stood there in silence for a while, listening to the rain._

_I cocked my head a little and said, "You know, I've always wondered what it would be like to kiss someone in the rain." Then I remembered who I was talking to. I straightened my head, sliding my eyes over to Luke. He was staring out across road, his expression contemplative, like he was trying to figure out what to say to that._

_"Not that I meant you," I said quickly, probably only making it worse, but now I'd gotten myself nervous. I didn't want things to get awkward between us. Not after only the second year. "I mean…we've only known each other for two years. And I know we're just friends. I wasn't trying to imply anything." I think he was trying to say something, to interrupt me, but I kept my eyes locked on my shoes and kept talking. "I was just thinking out loud. I do that sometimes. I try to refrain from talking to myself around people, but I guess I feel comfortable enough around you—" In the distance the conch horn blew. I finally looked up at Luke. "Oh, that's dinner."_

_Without another word I turned and started down the hill. I heard Luke's perusing footsteps behind me before he fell into step beside me._

_"You do know we sit at the same table, right?" he asked in an amused voice._

_I scoffed. "Of course." I said. Truthfully, I'd been so flustered I'd forgotten. Luke laughed. "What's funny?" I asked, frustrated. Not only at myself, but at Luke for taking this so easily. How was he not flustered? Even a little bit?_

_"It's honestly okay, Tori," Luke said. "I think it's nice that you feel comfortable enough around me to be yourself." I relaxed, not realizing I'd been tense and looked over at Luke. He smiled easily and I felt my frustration and embarrassment slowly dissipate. "I'm also used to girls flirting with me." He looked away and shrugged._

_My mouth fell open and my irritation returned._

_"Now you listen here, Castellan," I started indignantly as my blush returned with a vengeance. "I was not flirting with you."_

_I tried to say more, but Luke interrupted me. "Seriously, it's okay. People are always telling me I'm dripping with good looks." His eyes slid over to me and he smirked. I glared back at him, trying to think of a comeback and utterly failing._

_We had just arrived at the juncture where to our left were the cabins and to our right was the canoe lake. Glancing at the lake and thinking about what Luke had just said, I suddenly got an idea. Without warning, I started pushing Luke in the direction of the lake._

_"Uh, Tori, the cabins are…that way?" Luke pointed behind me as we stumbled along and I continued to shove him._

_"Oh, I know," I replied._

_Luke laughed, confused. "Okay, then why are you pushing me in the opposite direction?" I didn't answer him and focused on pushing him. I just hoped that he wouldn't realize what I was up to and/or start to push back. "I don't think the Hermes cabin will be very happy if we're late to dinner." I stayed silent. He didn't seem to notice the grass had turned to wood. "Tori—" He broke off on account of taking an unexpected plunge into the lake. I stood at the edge of the pier with my arms crossed, and waited for him to appear._

_He came up a second later, gasping. He looked around a bit startled before looking up at me._

_"That line should only work if you're actually dripping wet," I told him, leaning over him._

_He stared up at me ruefully. He didn't look angry, and there was a hint of a smile on his face, but I couldn't be sure._

_"Touché," he replied. And I knew by the tone of his voice I'd definitely regret this decision later. But I was too amused to care at the moment. "Help me out now, will you?" he asked, holding out his hand._

_I pretended to think about this before stretching out my hand. A moment before he could grab it, I pulled back, though._

_"Did you honestly think I was going to fall for that?" I asked with a smug smile. Luke narrowed his eyes. I leaned down again, closer this time, our faces only inches apart. "And, by the way, that was me flirting with you. I'll see you at dinner." I smiled and winked before pulling back and walking down the pier and toward the cabins._

* * *

_I left the room, rubbing my forehead, exhausted. I hated working with monsters. It was a little easier to work with other demigods. But only a little. And the reason it was so hard for me to work with other monsters was because it went against basically everything I'd been taught. I fought monsters because they liked to kill demigods. It also didn't help that my mom had been brutally killed by one. At least it was one that couldn't talk._

_I dragged my feet through the halls of the ship that was currently docked in San Francisco and picked a random suite. I didn't really care if I needed to do something else or if I had other duties I needed to fulfill. I was worn and could barely think. I made sure to lock the door before promptly passing out on the bed._

_I was woken up by soft whispering from what sounded like Luke's voice. I struggled to pull my brain from the fog and open my eyes. I wanted to sleep more, but Luke was persistent. I had to try a few times to open my eyes before they stayed open. Even then, my vision was fuzzy and shifting like I was looking through a kaleidoscope._

_I squeezed my eyes shut again and opened them hoping that my vision would be better. At least it wasn't shifting anymore._

_I sat up and rubbed the gunk from the corners of my eyes._

_"Luke?" I asked. "What is it?"_

_I felt his hand slip into mine. "Come outside with me." he said quietly, gently pulling me from the bed._

_"What?" I mumbled. "What do you mean?" I slipped off the bed and stumbled along after him. He didn't answer me and I was still half-asleep to realize he hadn't. We walked along through the maze of hallways. Luke kept his hand in mine and pulled me along._

_We came to the doors leading outside to the deck with the pool and the fountain, the deck where Kelli had taken me to announce I was trying to save Luke. Where we'd danced and Luke had pulled me into the pool._

_He said he wanted me to come outside with him, but I hadn't expected him to just suddenly open the doors and pull me out._

_It certainly woke me up, though, because as soon as he pulled me fully outside I was hit with a blast of cold along with freezing rain._

_I gasped. "Luke!" I shrieked as he pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around my waist. I hunched my shoulders, as if that was going to protect me from the rain._

_"I'm sorry," he half-yelled over the rain, pattering on the wood of the deck. "I didn't want to wake you, but I didn't know how long this storm was going to last."_

_I blinked the rain from my eyes and looked up at him. I was already starting to get cold._

_"What are you talking about?" I asked, raising my own voice so he could hear me over the noise._

_Luke smiled—was he even cold?—before reaching up to caress my face, stroking my cheek with his thumb._

_"I distinctly remember someone telling me they'd always wanted to kiss someone in the rain," he told me. "It was years ago, I don't know if I remember exactly right who I was talking to…" He trailed off and pretended to look confused. "Maybe I've got the wrong blonde." He suddenly let go of my waist, dropped the hand that had been stroking my cheek, and stepped away. "Maybe I should go—" He started to turn away but I grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward me. He spun to face me and I instantly stretched up on my tip-toes to kiss him._

_I reached up with my free hand to run my fingers through his soaked hair and Luke stepped closer to me and put an arm around my waist again, pulling me ever closer._

_It was weird, because the sound of the rain seemed to dim around me, yet my senses flared and I became hyperaware of everything. Where we were standing on the deck. Luke's arm around my waist, his other hand in my hair. His lips tasted like the rain, still rough, but warm._

_And I wasn't cold anymore. The heat started in the pit of my stomach, spreading out slowly like a low-burning flame or the fire on Christmas Eve. It was warm and comforting. I still felt the rain, but no longer felt the cold._

_Like fire and ice._

_When we pulled away we were both breathing hard._

_Luke rested his forehead against mine and I closed my eyes, savoring this moment._

_"Let's go back inside," he finally said. I opened my eyes to look at him, but kept my forehead pressed against his. "I'll make you some hot cocoa while you dry off and change."_

_I smiled and took his hand in mine, lacing my fingers through his. "I'd like that very much."_

_Luke squeezed my hand and pulled away. And together, we headed back inside._

* * *

I stood on one of the many hills that surrounded the southern part of camp, just inside the border. I would've liked to stand next to Thalia's pine tree. As it was, Peleus the dragon was currently wrapped around it, guarding the Golden Fleece that was hanging in the lowest bough.

I sighed and looked out, past the barrier. One of the summer storms had hit. It seemed kind of late in the summer for it, but here it was. I'd gotten used to how controlled the weather was at this point, having lived here so long. Now, instead of the contrast being shocking and almost unbelievable, it was beautiful. It was almost artistic.

I didn't need to look behind me to know what I'd see: the sun shining down on camp, the lake, the Long Island Sound. And though the colors were brighter and more vibrant compared to what I was currently looking at, instead of campers playing volleyball or basketball, cruising on the lake in canoes, they were stocking up for the war with weapons and armor and shields. They were only going to activities that pertained to training. _Some_ were fighting over a flying chariot, which I thought was completely ridiculous and immature. There was no time for arts and crafts, no time for relaxing canoe rides, so there shouldn't be time for a petty fight over who owns a chariot. We had much bigger things to worry about.

Anyway, before me was a similar scene, bringing me back to my early years at this camp. Back to when I'd been standing on this hill (not the same hill, though), staring out at the rain, wanting to step past the border and feel it on my skin.

I almost wished if I reached out with one of my hands that Luke would suddenly appear, bounding up the hill to come stand next to me.

I knew that wasn't possible, though. That time had long since passed.

Even so, I reached out, palm up to catch the rain in my hand. I splayed my fingers again, enjoying the feeling.

Footsteps sounded behind me and my heart leaped into my throat. For a scary split second I thought it was Luke who was coming up the hill. But when I turned slightly to look, it was Silena I saw.

I dropped my hand and turned to face her fully.

She got to the top of hill and rested her hands on her knees, panting.

I knew what she'd come here for. Long before I'd gone on the raid with the Ares and Apollo cabins I'd been called into the war council to help preparations with the plan to blow up Kronos's ship. I was called upon because I knew the ship like the back of my hand. I probably could've led someone through the halls with my eyes closed.

We were anxiously waiting for permission from Olympus to actually enact the plan. Our sources told us he was sailing back to New York, to attack Camp Half-Blood.

Because it was the whole council, Silena knew, which also meant Kronos knew about our plans. And when it was decided that Percy and Beckendorf would go on this mission, Silena had been asking me nonstop to try and convince them I should go with them. I didn't know how much of a help I would be, other than being able to lead them through the ship to the engine room and then the rendezvous point. I was a good fighter, sure, but from the meetings, the plan was to get in, set the bombs, get out and away, and then blow the ship up. We were not to engage unless absolutely necessary.

Besides, three demigods was pushing it. With so many monsters on board, they would be able to sense if three new half-bloods suddenly showed up.

I'd also recently come into the knowledge that Silena and Beckendorf were a thing. Which explained why Silena wouldn't stop asking me to go with them. At the beginning she tried to convince me to convince them to just let me and Percy go. When it clear that Beckendorf was going because of his knowledge with explosives and Greek fire, Silena switched tactics and was now trying to convince me to go with them.

When the daughter of Aphrodite finally caught her breath and straightened up, I held up my hand.

"Bracelet?" I asked, something I always asked if she approached me. Silena shook her head. "Then I'll save you time and tell you that I know what you're going to say. We've had this conversation before, I'm not going. Please stop asking."

"Have you even _tried_ talking to them?" Silena asked. "To Chiron? You know that ship so well. You'd be so helpful if you went with them."

"That's why they called me in initially. All they really need to know is the layout of the ship. I don't need to hold their hands as they walk through. The dry runs have gone well, they know where to go. They've got it down. Why do you keep insisting on having this conversation? You said it yourself, Luke promised not to harm Beckendorf."

"Because of that." Silena pointed at me, at my face more specifically. I looked at her confused and offended.

"My…face?" I asked.

She dropped her hand and rolled her eyes. "I don't know if you're doing it on purpose because you're usually good at hiding your emotions, but when you talk about the plans for blowing up the ship—and just now—you sound uncertain. Very uncertain about all this. You…you look at Percy and Charlie like they're on their-their deathbeds. And it scares me…" Her voice had dropped to a whisper and she trailed off, her lower lip quivering.

I sighed and rubbed the heel of my palm against my forehead, looking down and closing my eyes.

Sleep deprivation would do that, I guess. Silena was right, I was usually good at hiding my emotions, having learned to do so after I'd come here, practicing and mastering that art ever since. It'd become so much more crucial to my survival. On the ship. Back at here, at camp.

But recently I'd been having horrible dreams. Worse than when I saw Luke as Kronos.

They always started with me back on the ship. Kronos was there, with his cold golden eyes and his scythe in his hand. We stood on the very top deck, facing each other, several feet apart. There was no sound from what I could tell. There was a few moments of that, where I felt like I was frozen in time again, before Kronos smiled suddenly and the ship exploded. Kronos disappeared in a haze of wood and dust from the ship along with the green flames of Greek fire. An overwhelming sense of sadness and loss would hit me after that. If Greek fire could be infused with emotion that's what it felt like in the dream, being hit by explosive, crushing emotion.

Then I'd jolt awake, only, not really….

I blinked and shook my head, trying to shake off those dreams. Still, they disturbed my sleep so much in that I didn't want to go back to sleep. I didn't want to have to relive the nightmare again and again. I was starting to feel the effects of forcing myself to stay awake for so long.

I mean, maybe it was good that the ship blowing up had been a success, but what bothered me was the fact that Kronos had smiled right before it'd blown up. He'd known about our plan, yes, but I'd told Silena we could use this to our advantage by bringing in an unknown piece that he _wouldn't_ know about. My hope was that it would throw him off enough to give us an edge and help us succeed.

Still, this smile bothered me. It wasn't a smile that said, "Yes, I knew about your little plan all along." Besides the explosion still happened. Instead, it was more like a smirk. Like he was hiding something from us that he thought was amusing. I had an idea what it was, but I didn't want to think about it too much because the thought depressed me.

And I wasn't sure what to do with this information, either. I wasn't sure if I should tell Chiron, or the war council. Just Percy and Beckendorf. Silena?

What were either Chiron or the council going to do? Even if we debated about it, there wasn't anything we could physically do. If we didn't blow up Kronos's ship, he'd hit the beach and the camp would be under attack. We couldn't let that happen.

Percy and Beckendorf would probably just go to Chiron in the end. And Chiron would call upon the council. So either way, we'd end up sitting at the ping pong table discussing what my dream could possible mean.

I was reluctant to tell Silena because I didn't want her to worry more than she already was.

But…It seemed crucial to this mission, I _should_ tell them. If Kronos was just going to let us blow up his ship, I should tell them and prevent more lives from being lost. As I said, that wouldn't stop us from needing to blow up his ship.

And we'd always been warned not to try and change or prevent prophecies from coming true, right?

"I've just got…a lot on my mind." I told Silena, looking back up at her.

"Sleep deprivation?" Silena asked. "Are you having nightmares? Are they telling you something? Tori, if they relate to the mission you should tell Chiron or the council! You shouldn't keep it to yourself—"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" I held up my hands in a "stop" gestured. "I haven't even…confirmed or denied having nightmares. Let alone if they pertain to what we're planning."

"I know what sleep deprivation looks like, Tori," Silena said, crossing her arms. She looked away. "Make-up isn't just for looking pretty."

I blinked and stared at the daughter of Aphrodite. It was rude, but I couldn't look away. Had she been having bad dreams, too? Had she spent sleepless night thinking about her role in all this? About how she was the spy? About how she was handing over information to the enemy? Could _she_ face herself in the mirror?

I let out a heavy sigh and closed my eyes momentarily. If I was being honest it wasn't the first part that was scaring me and keeping me up at night, not wanting to go back to sleep. Well, it was, but it wasn't the main reason I couldn't go back to sleep. It was the second part of the dream. Just thinking about it made my heart ache and the breath leave me.

I took a deep, shaking breath in and opened my eyes to look at Silena.

"I don't…think it's going to help in any way," I finally said. "I don't think they're going to call of the attack just because of my dream. Especially from someone they consider a traitor. They're still trying to decide if they can trust me or not."

"I think it'll be okay. You've been here for how long now? Surely they've developed some trust with you." Silena looked encouragingly at me.

I looked out at the storm, happening just beyond the border, contemplating this. I suppose telling them wouldn't be the worst option. If they didn't believe me, no big deal. If they did, maybe the overwhelming sadness I felt after the explosion would go away. I was more afraid of what that meant than Kronos's smile.

Suddenly something occurred to me, though, and I stepped toward Silena, lowering my voice.

"If I tell anyone about my dream, we're going to end up in the same place," I told her quietly. "A war council. You'll be there. You'll have to report it Kronos. We can't have him knowing."

Silena blinked and I saw the energy slowly drain from her. I felt bad for bursting her bubble like that, but it was true. If we were going to make this work, Kronos couldn't know _everything_. That was the whole point of me knowing that Silena was the spy. So hopefully we could plan things without Silena, therefore she wouldn't have anything to report to Kronos.

Suddenly she grabbed my arm, her grip stronger than I thought she could muster. Her eyes blazed with a new light. They were blue today. I looked down at her hand on my arm and resisted from flipping her or reacting instinctively before looking back up to meet her eyes again.

"Talk to Charlie. Or try Chiron. I'm sure if you asked they wouldn't call the council together. Convince one of them that you should be on this mission. _Please_. I can't…I can't lose Charlie." She dropped her hand.

"I thought Luke promised—"

"He did!" She snapped before sighing. "But I'm just…worried. I love him, Tori. I can't lose him. And this mission is so _dangerous_ …. I can't help but worry."

I thought about the second half of my dream and sighed again. This was turning out to be just as exhausting as being on that ship.

"I'll…I'll see what I can do," I finally said, adding quickly, "but I'm not guaranteeing anything."

"Thank you," Silena said. She raced back down the hill and to the cabins, then, probably anxious to get the bracelet from wherever she hid it whenever we talked.

* * *

I decided I would talk to Beckendorf. I was too afraid that Chiron would want to call a council and I didn't want to risk it. At least with Beckendorf I'd have a greater chance to convince him not to without looking _too_ suspicious or with him figuring out why I didn't want the whole council involved. Chiron had been at this for three centuries, sometimes I swear he could pull answers straight from your brain with a single look from those ancient eyes.

The first place I checked was the forges. I should've been at archery practice, but I was skipping for now. Hopefully this conversation wouldn't take too long and I'd still be able to practice a little before I moved onto my next activity.

Sure enough, Beckendorf was there with his other siblings, hammering away at Celestial bronze, designing, making, building all sorts of things.

I'd only ever visited the forges once or twice during my whole stay here. It just wasn't my thing. I was good with a bow and arrow, but I wasn't that good with my hands.

It always amazed me how the marble columns that lined the soot-stained walls stayed their pristine white. I wondered if it was some kind of spell or if they were specially designed to be soot-proof. The sound of the several water wheels did nothing to block out the noise on the inside, the roar of the fires, the grinding of machinery, if you listened closely you could even hear the clicking of the gears and levers. The inside looked like a machine shop, from what I knew of them. I'd only ever seen them on television, movies, and in plays.

When I poked my head in, work stopped momentarily as the children of Hephaestus looked up.

I waved a little nervously and tried to smile. I'm not sure I succeeded.

"I was wondering if I could talk to Beckendorf," I told them, looking around for him. He stood up when I said his name, which made it easier.

"Sure," he said. "What do you need?"

"Uh…alone?" I asked, glancing at his other siblings. They all gave me suspicious looks, gripping their tools like they expected me to attack or something.

"Guys, it's fine," Beckendorf assured. "Think you could give us a moment?" His siblings all looked to him a little wary, but they finally put down their tools and projects before slowly filing out silently. I waited, keeping my eyes on my shoes as they did so. When the last person exited I stepped in, going up to Beckendorf hesitantly.

"Something wrong with your sword?" he asked as I approached, his eyes flickering down to the sword at my side and he crossed his massive arms. I always had it strapped to my waist, even though I didn't need to here.

I looked down at it too, remembering that I did indeed have it. It'd become second nature to just put it on when I got dressed I usually forgot it was there. That is until I was threatened, I had it out quicker than lightning. So to speak.

"Oh, well…no." I laughed nervously. "Force of habit." I pulled it off of my belt and held it out for him. "But maybe it could use some sharpening?" This was more of a show of faith than anything. I was usually good at the upkeep of my sword. I wanted him to make sure he knew he could trust me while alone.

Beckendorf took my sword and pulled it from its sheath half-way, examining the edges of the blade. His eyes flickered to me when he realized it didn't _really_ need sharpening, but I think he figured out why I said it just as quickly. He put it back in its sheath again.

"All right, we can talk while I work on it." He gestured over to a large contraption made from bronze pipes that held a large circular stone on an axel. Beckendorf pulled up a stool, sat down and flipped a switch. The machine whirred to life. The circular stone spun at an alarming speed for being stone and also huge and probably heavy. I watched in awe as he unsheathed my sword and pressed it against the stone. Sparks flew, and the noise it made wasn't the most pleasant, but it was still fascinating to watch.

"So, you wanted to talk to me about something?" Beckendorf said, pulling the sword away for a moment and looking over his shoulder at me. "Alone. Must be pretty serious. Is it about the mission?"

I took a deep breath. "Kind of." I pulled up a stool next to him, away from the sparks and told him about the first part of my dream as he continued to sharpen my sword. "And so the reason I'm telling you this is because I just think I'd be helpful if I came with you when we hear back from Olympus. I mean, I know the ship so well and all— I just think…maybe it would be good to have someone who knows the ship so well with you."

Beckendorf was quiet for a long time. So long I was starting to get nervous. He finished up sharpening my sword and then put it pack into its sheath. He turned off the machine and handed it back to me before he spoke.

"Did Silena put you up to this?" he asked in a slightly amused voice. There was a hint of a smile on his face. I took my sword back and reattached it to my belt.

"You could say that," I muttered.

"Don't you think this is something that should be addressed with the whole council?"

"No," I said too quickly. "I mean, no, I…don't think that would be a good idea."

Beckendorf raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"

"I just…it's not like they can do anything but offer advice and suggestions about what my dream could mean. And you're the one who's going on the mission, so it makes sense to talk to you about it."

"What do _you_ think it means?"

I looked at Beckendorf carefully. "The truth?" He thought about this before nodding. "First, you have to promise me you won't tell Silena any of this. At all."

Beckendorf's eyebrows furrowed and he frowned, crossing his arms. The muscles in his arms rippled and I swallowed hard. He was younger than me, but he was also absolutely ripped from working in the forges all day.

"Why?" he questioned carefully.

"I…I can't say," I answered lamely. "Just promise. If she asks, tell her I told you to promise. She'll understand. If she doesn't, she can come talk to me. But, please, swear you won't tell Silena anything of what we talked about. Not a whisper."

Beckendorf paused for a count of thirty-two. "I swear on the River Styx, I won't tell her anything about our conversation." Thunder rumbled in the distance and I relaxed.

"Kronos's smile is the thing that bothers me the most. It just feels like he's smiling because blowing up his ship won't do anything," I explained. "The way he just stands there as the ship explodes. He doesn't do anything to prevent it. Almost like…he's letting us blow up his ship. And that sadness…I don't think this mission is going to end well. I haven't told Silena any of this, but she knows that I'm worried. She wants me to go with you guys, hopefully to stop my dream from becoming truth."

"Even if he's letting us blow his ship up, that still gets rid of a good chunk of his army," Beckendorf said. "And slows him down. His ship is on the way over to camp. We can't let it make it that far. The mission—it's decided. That's not going to change."

"Silena is still going to want me to go, if that's the case. That's not going to change, either."

"I honestly see no point in bringing you along," Beckendorf told me bluntly, looking around the forge. "You've given us the shortest, quickest route to the engine room and the rendezvous point from there. We've practiced this countless times, we know the paths. Besides, we'd probably want to consult Chiron if you want to come along, and he's going to want to bring the council into this, too." His eyes slid over to me. "Which is something you've made clear you don't want to happen."

I sighed and looked down at the floor. "It's complicated. I would explain if I could, but…" I trailed off, not wanting to say more. And hoping that he wouldn't question me. When he didn't say anything I stood. "Well, thank you for humoring me. I should be off now. Thanks for sharpening my sword, too." I started to head out and was just at the door when Beckendorf called my name. I looked back. He was sitting where I'd left him, his arms still crossed.

"Why didn't you make me promise not to tell anyone else?" he asked.

"Well, Percy deserves to know if you get a chance to talk to him before we get permission," I said. I'd thought about gathering him and Beckendorf before this, but I realize I'd hardly seen him at all since the summer began. Figures, the one time I actually need to speak with him he's not here. "As for the others, I guess I thought it wouldn't be fair if I didn't leave that choice up to you. I'll see you 'round."

I turned and left him with his thoughts.

* * *

Silena approached me the next day around the same time, as she always did. I didn't know how she found me, but she always managed it somehow.

Today I was finishing up swordplay in the arena. She nodded to my siblings as they exited, making sure they all left and would stay gone before coming over to me.

"Bracelet?" I asked quietly. She shook her head.

She bit her lip nervously. "So did you—"

"Yes; to Beckendorf," I interrupted.

"And…?" she pressed. "What'd he say?"

"The mission's still on for sure. I'd probably have to consult Chiron if I wanted to join. And that I'm not needed." I told her.

"Will you still go, anyway?" Silena asked, not deterred by this news in the slightest. She probably expected this answer and therefore thought of another way I'd be able to help them. "I can help get you a pegasus."

"Honestly, Silena, I don't know what I can do. Beckendorf was right, there's no need for me to be on this mission."

Silena shook her head. "That's not true. You've got to be of some help in some way. You were on that ship for two years. You know all the ins and outs. You know the monsters. Maybe it may not seem like you're needed looking at just the mission, but there are…so many things that could go wrong. And maybe-maybe you might be needed then." She was breathing hard by the time she finished, blinking back tears, looking desperate, showing me just how worried she was about Beckendorf.

I opened my mouth to respond but she continued on, having caught her breath. "I would go if I was better with a weapon, but I'm not. Which is why I'm asking you to go for me. I'm not very useful, but I _can_ help you with the ride. I know a few things about pegasi."

"That's not true, Silena. You're stronger and smarter than you give yourself credit for." I objected. And it was true. This life wasn't always about fighting or brute force. You needed to be able to think critically and on your feet, to think in abstract ways to defeat the enemy.

"Now isn't the time to spare my feelings." She waved off my comment, looking away. "I need to know that you'll go. I need to know that you'll protect Charlie."

"Silena—" I started, but broke off when she looked at me again. The look in her eyes was just heartbreaking. It was then I was sure she'd been losing sleep over this. Whether it be from worry or dreams, she was having a hard time, too.

I thought about Luke, then, and the second part of my dream. It didn't seem fair to let someone else go through that same pain. I could tell Silena and Beckendorf really loved and cared about each other because that's how I felt about Luke.

And in a way, this was my fault. If I had just let Kronos kill me, we wouldn't even be here, having this conversation. If I could make it up to anyone at camp, even if it was just a little bit and even if it were for just one person, this seemed like a way to do it. And it wasn't just Silena, it was Beckendorf himself, too. He had his whole life ahead of him with Silena. He was going to go to college in the fall. Even with those things, he still risked his life to help this camp, to help his family.

Something bad was going to happen on that mission and if I didn't at least try to do anything about it, I would hate myself more than I already did.

I looked down and let out a heavy sigh.

"If you can get me that ride," I started, looking up again, "I'll do the best that I can."

Silena's eyes lit up hopefully. "Thank you! Thank you, so much." Then she did something unexpected and threw her arms around me. I tensed up and forced my hand to stay where it was and not grab my sword. It was a jerk reaction. I knew Silena wouldn't hurt me.

The daughter of Aphrodite pulled away after a few moments with a smile on her face that made me regret my decision almost instantly. A smile that told me I couldn't afford to fail because I couldn't take that happiness away from her.

* * *

 **The "dripping with good looks" idea came from** _**Ouran High School Host Club** _ **. It's an anime and it's hilarious. But also deep at times. I enjoy it. Anyway, gotta give credit where it's due. The idea I used in this story doesn't actually happen in the show, just to clarify things. It does have the line "dripping with good looks" though, which is what led to the idea I used in this story.**

 **The title is also the title of a wonderful play by Richard Greenberg. I was fortunate enough to see a production of it—at the beginning of last year's summer with a friend—with Silas Weir Mitchell and Sasha Roiz (actors from** _**Grimm** _ **) as the main characters.**

**It's a wonderful play and if you can, I'd recommend watching it. If not, I recommend reading it. The main plot of the play has nothing to do with this chapter (still really cute, though), but I was thinking about possible scenes I could do with Luke and Tori, then came up with kissing in the rain (too many Taylor Swift songs), and this is what came from it. And so I thought the title of the play really fit this chapter.**


	35. Still Trying to Find It

I bolted upright in my bed. "No, Luke!" I shrieked. I looked around the dark room, bringing my knees up toward me so I could rest my arms on them. I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing. My heart was beating so erratically I thought I was going to go into cardiac arrest. I couldn't tell if the pain was because of that or because of my dream, the feeling of losing Luke.

I realized now why Luke had done what he'd done, why he was so adamant on saving me—those little reminders about what would happen to me if he failed Kronos. Ever since I got back to camp I'd been having dreams almost every single night. And almost every single night, Luke died in my arms from a small wound on his left side, just under his arm. And there had been nothing I could do about it.

The lights blinked on in the Apollo cabin, temporarily blinding me. People were coming over to my bunk, half-asleep, squinting their eyes, asking me questions all at the same time.

"What's wrong?"

"Are you okay?"

"What happened?"

I threw my blankets off of me and slipped off the bed, forcing the others to take a step back. "I'm fine. Sorry I woke you. It was just a bad dream." I mumbled. They continued to ask questions, but I pushed past them and went into the bathroom. I shut the door, keeping the lights off (not wanting to see myself in the mirror). I slid down to the floor, leaning against the door. I pulled my legs up to my chest and folded my arms across my knees. Unwanted tears flooded my eyes and I quickly hid in the confines of my folded arms as more sobs escaped my body.

When my tears slowed to a stop, I continued to sit there, fighting exhaustion. I didn't want to go back to sleep. I didn't want to have that dream again. I _couldn't_.

I managed to fight sleep off until the sun started to rise. Through the window, soft orange light came through, illuminating the bathroom. I rose unsteadily to my feet and staggered back to the bed, keeping my eyes on the floor. I fell back into bed and passed out cold. I'd found out that sleeping while the sun was out usually warded off my nightmare.

* * *

Coming up with a plan had been hard enough. Now I needed to prepare for it in the unknown limited amount of time I had. It was by no means foolproof, which was probably not good for me, or Percy or Beckendorf. Of course, the only thing I was trying to accomplish by following them and going on this mission without authorization was saving Percy and Beckendorf. If I died, then so be it. Maybe it would snap Luke out it long enough to get rid of Kronos somehow.

When I wasn't training, I was spending my days in the arts and crafts building. It wasn't complicated, what I was constructing, but I wanted to make it as real and believable as I could. Also, as I said, I was never really good with my hands and small things, so it was taking me longer than it should have. I kept messing up. It wasn't helping that I was going off what I'd seen in plays and on television.

It was a relatively easy thing to make, in theory, but I was having serious trouble getting it how I wanted it to look.

I avoided the Hephaestus cabin and kids all together, not wanting to clue Beckendorf or his siblings into what I was doing. I'd considered giving Beckendorf the idea and then stealing the item from him, but it was too risky. He might ask why. And he'd have no need for two detonators, so if I took the one he'd made, he wouldn't have a way to detonate the bomb if I didn't make it in time or something happened in which my plan failed.

When the day finally came, I was finishing up my little project. Silena came up to me as I finished putting it together.

She opened her mouth to speak but I interrupted her quickly, "Bracelet?" It was crucial Kronos didn't know about what I was planning. Which was also why I avoided telling Silena any details about my plan.

"No," Silena said. "Beckendorf just left. Let's go down to the stables and I'll call a pegasus for you."

Silena started heading away, but I grabbed her wrist.

"No, I can't follow him immediately after," I told her. "The skies are too open. I won't be able to hide."

The daughter of Aphrodite chewed her lip nervously. "How long do you propose we wait?"

"Fifteen minutes, twenty at the most?" I said, letting go of her wrist.

"Is that a question or an answer?" Silena asked, looking at me worriedly.

I sighed. "It's a guestimation," I answered. "I can't follow too closely after or they'll see me. I can't follow too long after or I won't make it in time, if the plan goes accordingly. Which we know it won't because you've told Kronos we're coming, I presume."

Silena nodded, her eyebrows furrowing the more I spoke. I hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll leave in fifteen minutes," I said. "Sound good?" She didn't relax, but she nodded. Without a word she shook my hand off and headed slowly back to her cabin. I watched her go and let out another sigh before turning back to make sure the little project worked. It was a simple mechanism, thankfully.

Fifteen minutes later, Silena was back. I'd finished making my little piece by then, and had put it into my pocket. I then followed Silena down to the stables. I stopped at the armory to grab a bow and quiver of arrows. I already had my sword and dagger on me. The dagger in my ankle brace, the sword at my side. I threw the quiver over my shoulder and then did the same with my bow.

Silena whistled and watched the skies. I watched the camp nervously, trying not to look too suspicious, hoping no one would come our way.

A few minutes later, a pegasus appeared as a blot in the sky. It landed a few feet from us and trotted up to Silena and me, folding its wings. Silena reached out to pet its nose.

She turned toward me with a smile. "Tori, you should know Porkpie. Since you seem to work well together, I thought that having him on this mission might help in some small way."

I stepped toward Porkpie and hesitantly lifted my hand to pet his nose. "Hey, Porkpie. It's good to see you again."

"He should be able to take you to the ship," Silena said. "From then"—she took a deep breath—"it's all you."

"Yay, me," I mumbled sarcastically.

"You're going to do great," Silena encouraged. "After all that you've been through a lot already, this should be nothing."

"You're putting too much faith in me, Silena," I told her honestly. "That's a lot of pressure. There is a chance that I won't succeed and I need you to keep that in mind, okay?"

Silena held her encouraging smile, but I could tell it was very forced. I hated to be such a downer and dash her hopes, but the pressure she was putting on me to return with Beckendorf alive was starting to get to me (I couldn't even be sure if I'd be able to find them in time). If I failed, I'd only end up blaming myself, which would not help my mental state—considering how low I already was.

"I'll do my best," I assured her. "I just need you to remember that I'm just one person."

Silena took a deep breath and her fake smile finally dropped. She looked at me solemnly. "Of course," she murmured before taking a step away from Porkpie. "Good luck."

"Thank you," I said as I mounted the pegasus. We exchanged one last look before Porkpie started galloping and then took off.

Night had fallen by the time I finally located the _Princess Andromeda_. I'd been getting worried for a while there, but finally a glow appeared in the distance. As I flew closer, the glow started to take shape into the cruise ship I knew all too well.

I took my bow from my shoulder and prepared an arrow. I wasn't planning on being discreet and I figured they'd have lookouts stationed at points on the ship. I'd learned from my last time that flying over wasn't a good idea unless you wanted to be shot out of the sky. At the very least, you wanted to be prepared to knock their arrows out of the sky.

As I got even closer, I saw a crowd of mostly monsters on the main deck, where the pool was, and on a balcony overlooking the deck. I was certain Kronos was standing on the balcony. There was a circle around him and another person, who stood a few feet away from him. If I had a guess, it was Percy.

Another small circle had formed on the main deck among the monsters. A demigod stood in front of a pile of jars filled with something I couldn't make out and two giants, holding someone between them. At another guess, it was Beckendorf. It looked like I'd come just in time.

It was at that point the first arrow came flying toward us. I quickly shot it out of the sky and nocked another one just as another arrow came flying at us. Several more came at us before I got close enough to drop down on the ship. I'd talked about what I wanted Porkpie to do when we got to the ship when we were searching for it.

He flew low, close enough to the ship's main deck that I could jump off, but high enough that he wouldn't get speared by the giants' spears and javelins.

I threw my leg over the side of the pegasus's back and sat sidesaddle, shooting another arrow away. Porkpie swooped in low and I slid off his back, rolling as I landed. I came up on one knee and quickly notched an arrow, shooting down an arrow aimed at Porkpie as he flew away. I shot down a few more before throwing my bow into my right hand and pulling out my little art project I'd been working on. I pressed the button, making sure to hold it out for everyone to see.

I looked directly up at Kronos, who was standing near the balcony, looking down at me. His golden eyes glowed with pure hatred and malevolence. Most of his army's weapons were aimed at me. The archers had trained their arrows on me, no longer concerned with Porkpie.

Kronos had his hand held up, like a signal to hold their fire. His eyes went to what was in my hand. It was about four inches long, thin, and cylindrical. It was made from Celestial bronze and had a red button at the top that I currently had my thumb on, depressing it.

"Victoria," Kronos greeted coldly, lowing his hand. I slowly stood, gripping my bow in my right hand, still holding out my piece.

"Kronos," I replied just as cold.

"I didn't think heroes these days could get any stupider," he commented. "Apparently I was wrong."

I looked at him carefully. "I told you already, I'm not a hero."

"No?" Kronos raised his eyebrows before smiling cruelly. "I thought you would've heard by now, I've offered a reward to whoever can bring you to me. Now it looks like I won't have to worry about that any longer."

"Oh?" I tried to act casual, despite how my heart lurched in my chest at this information. "I'm touched to know you care so much about me. Am I worth a lot?"

Kronos narrowed his eyes.

"You're a fool," he growled. "What did you expect to accomplish? I knew you were coming." He started to lift his hand again. The monsters around me stirred, surging toward me. The archers pulled their arrows back.

I took a few steps back and brandished my art project. "Touch me and we all go up."

"Hold," Kronos ordered, scrutinizing me and what was in my hand.

"I knew you'd know," I said. "But I also knew you wouldn't know about this." I held my little project a tad higher.

"What is that in your hand?" he demanded.

I unfurled some of my fingers, making sure to keep my thumb on the button, and showed it to him.

I smirked. "Oh, you need to catch up on your pop culture," I chided him. "You've been in Tartarus far too long." Kronos's grip tightened on his scythe. "It's called a dead-man's switch," I explained. "You kill me, or Percy or Beckendorf, I'll stop pressing this button which will set off the bombs."

"How do I know you're not bluffing?" he asked immediately.

I met his eyes. "Try me." Kronos stared down at me, contemplating this. I kept my gaze locked on his, trying not to show how scared I was. There were so many variables, so many factors, so many ways this could go wrong. If he thought about it too much, I was afraid he might either figure out I was bluffing or that this only worked if we didn't blow up his ship. These switches were usually used for a compromise. We get away, but so does Kronos because we can't afford to lose anyone and he can't either. He could also opt for all of us to go up—him, part of his army, _and_ me, Beckendorf and Percy.

I was hoping he wouldn't be able to think this through, though. My entire plan hinged on him not being able to decipher what exactly a dead-man's switch was used for in time. In fact, I wasn't even certain if he already knew what this kind of switch was or not. This could've blown up in my face—literally and figuratively—before I even got the plan going.

Like I said, not foolproof in the slightest.

Finally, Kronos spoke. "Very well, let them go," he said in a low voice. If looks could kill I'd be dead ten times over. I had to wonder why he was so angry at me. He'd gotten what he wanted, a body to use while he regenerated to full capacity. I mean, sure, I was ruining his little plan and going to blow up his ship, but that couldn't have produced so much anger. I didn't think this explosion would kill him—he was a titan after all—so I couldn't fathom why he was so angry.

Besides, if my dream was correct, he was going to let them blow up the ship anyway.

Objections rang throughout the ship's deck, but the titan silenced them with a look and the slightest movement of his scythe.

"Do _not_ question _me_ ," he snarled. Kronos turned toward Percy, then. "The next time we meet, Jackson, I will put an end to this. I will put an end to _you_." He glanced back at me as he said this and I had a feeling he wasn't just talking to Percy.

I looked behind me to see the giants reluctantly let go of Beckendorf, who looked pretty badly beaten up. His eye was almost swollen shut, he had cuts covering his face and arms, and his shirt had been nearly torn off.

Beckendorf stepped away from the giants, toward me.

"Are you all right?" I asked quietly. He nodded. He didn't look too pleased to see me, though. It was hard to tell with one of his eyes being swollen.

"Better than Percy," he muttered, nodding toward the balcony. I turned again to see what he was talking about.

The monsters on the balcony had parted and Percy was making his way down the steps to the main deck. Now that I was closer and actually focusing on him, I realized that he'd been wounded. His arm was bleeding. The wound looked superficial, but Percy himself looked like he was on his deathbed. He was dragging his feet.

I swiftly went over to him, grabbing hold of his uninjured arm when he stumbled. I made sure to keep the switch in my one hand.

"What…are you doing here?" he muttered as we made our way over to Beckendorf.

I looked at the monsters warily, to make sure they wouldn't suddenly attack. It was too quiet on the deck. I was starting to get a bad feeling. We were taking too long. We needed to get off this ship.

"Long story," I said. We made it to the main deck and Beckendorf. I backed us up to the railing and looked over my shoulder to the waters below. "Can you protect us if we jump?" I asked Percy, still keeping my eyes on the monsters.

"…maybe," Percy answered weakly.

"Reassuring," I commented.

"No other choice," Beckendorf reminded me.

"On three?" I asked. Before either of them could answer, the monsters surrounding us came forward. A small volley of arrows came at us. I unsheathed my sword and swatted them away before quickly blocking a _dracaena_ 's strike and disarming the snake-woman. A telekhine jabbed at Percy, but that wound was seriously draining him. He tried to lift his sword, but he was too slow. I stepped in front of him, simultaneously pulling him out of the way.

Unprepared the sword sliced through my left arm. I let out a yelp and the switch dropped from my hands.

The monsters stopped their assault and stumbled back, falling over each other, like I was the bomb.

"Jump!" I yelled at Percy and Beckendorf before sheathing my sword and using my good hand to catapult myself over the edge. I looked back up to see the two boys following suit. Beckendorf was holding Percy's wrist. I reached out for Percy as they plummeted closer, not wanting to become a pancake on the surface of the ocean. I managed to grab hold of his other wrist just before we hit the water. I held my breath and squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the pain.

The splash filled my ears and when no pain came, I tentatively opened my eyes. I let out a breath of air. We were all under the water. Beckendorf and I were in air bubbles that went down to our shoulders. Percy, of course, didn't need one. The water seemed to rejuvenate him some. The wound on his arm healed and he didn't look like death any more.

We started moving away from the ship, then, Beckendorf and I still gripping Percy's wrists.

"Detonate the bomb, Beckendorf," I said as we moved through the dark waters.

"We're not far enough away, it's not safe," Beckendorf objected.

"It's going to take too long to get far enough away," I argued. "I dropped the switch. Kronos is going to think the ship is going to explode any second now. If it doesn't go up, he'll not only have time to dismantle the bombs, but he'll figure out I was bluffing. He'll send monsters after us. You've got to do it _now_."

"Tori—" Beckendorf started.

"I'll protect us from the shockwave," Percy broke in. He looked over at Beckendorf. "She's got a point."

Beckendorf looked between us grimly. I glanced behind us, but it was too dark to know if Kronos had figured it out yet and was sending monsters after us. I looked back at Beckendorf in time to see him lift his wrist, which had a watch on it, and press his palm to the face. I looked back again, but I didn't need to because I felt the explosion through the ocean it was so powerful.

The darkness lit up bright green as a ball of Greek fire burst from the bowls of the ship.

A few things happened then, in such a close succession, they might as well have been simultaneous: I looked away as the brightness grew and felt the heat from the explosion, even under water, even from this far away. A force knocked me from behind, forcing the air from my lungs for a few moments. Suddenly, my bubble disappeared. I looked over to Percy—unconscious. Then I noticed Beckendorf and my heart shot into my throat. Somehow, a piece of shrapnel from the ship had impaled him through and through in the side. Small wisps of blood were floating away from his wound.

Keeping Percy's wrist in my hand, I swam over to Beckenforf, who'd let go of Percy, and grabbed his arm. I tried to swim to the surface, but I had no oxygen to fuel my muscles. And we were sinking fast. I wasn't strong enough to swim against two other boys dragging me down.

My lungs were screaming. I had to let one of them go and it most certainly wasn't going to be Beckendorf. He couldn't breathe under water. But Percy could. I hoped even unconscious.

 _I'm sorry,_ I thought as I let go of Percy's wrist. He continued to sink, but this allowed me to swim to the surface with Beckendorf. I gasped as my head came up. I coughed and sputtered and struggled to keep both of us above the surface.

A few hundred yards away Greek fire burned on top of the water, making it day again. The only thing left of the ship was shrapnel and debris. Some was floating and on fire. Some was sinking, still on fire because this fire could burn even under water.

As oxygen filled my lungs my brain became less fuzzy. I needed to get Beckendorf out of this water. I didn't want his blood attracting any unfriendlies.

Before I did any of this, though, I checked his pulse. To my relief he was still breathing, but it wasn't looking good. I needed to get him back to camp.

One thing at a time, I reminded myself. I shifted a bit so I had my arms hooked underneath his, to keep him afloat a little easier as I looked for something I could possibly get him up onto. Most of the debris was on a fire. Several yards away a large-ish piece of the ship caught my eye. Thankfully it wasn't on fire. That had to be the luckiest break I'd ever gotten.

I swam slowly, my energy levels draining little by little. The cut on my arm stung soaking in the salt water. Beckendorf became heavier and heavier in my arms. I was just barely able to keep my head and his above water. I thought of Silena, how devastated she'd been if I didn't come back with Beckendorf. New energy didn't fill me, but I kept pushing my body past its limit.

After a long struggle, I finally made it to the piece. It was smaller now that I was up closer, only able to hold one of us. At least it was summer. The water wasn't freezing, but staying in it too long would still give me hyperthermia. Hopefully I wouldn't have to.

Using the last of my strength, my arms shaking from the effort, my wound bleeding even more, I hauled Beckendorf onto the wood, trying not to jostle the sharp piece sticking out of his side too much. He remained unconscious throughout. I hoped he hadn't sustained other wounds I didn't know about. I had no ambrosia or nectar on me and without the healing powers that the Apollo kids usually had, I was out of luck.

Still, I had to do _something_. Beckendorf was still bleeding. At the very least, I could wrap his wound as best I could to stem the flow of blood. Needless to say it was difficult ripping up the bottom of my shirt _and_ keeping a hold on the wood. My arms were already tired and my legs weren't doing much better with all the paddling I'd done.

It took a long time, but I finally manage to wrap the wound, around the shrapnel, and stop the flow, but steady bleeding. I saved a shred for my arm, which I clumsily wrapped and crudely tied. At that point in time I was wishing I had three arms instead of two. I had to tighten the knot with a hand and my mouth.

I clung to the makeshift raft in a way that used the least amount of energy. I was too tired to worry about monsters or sharks anymore. I whistled periodically, focusing all of what was left of my energy to summoning Porkpie. When I wasn't whistling, I was talking to Beckendorf, telling him to hang on just a little longer, for Silena, for his cabinmates, for camp. He was such an important person to everyone at camp, losing him would be crushing.

The sun had risen a fair amount into the sky, I was starting to shiver, and had twice sunk beneath the waves, only to be woken up with a mouthful of water and stinging nose when I finally heard the flapping of wings. I looked up, hoping I wasn't hallucinating. The sky was so blue and the sun was so bright it was hard to see the pure white pegasus, but I finally could make him out as he circled down toward us. I was so relieved I almost let go of the wood.

Porkpie hovered just above the water, next to the makeshift raft.

"We need to get him back to camp," I told the pegasus in a weak, shaking voice. Getting Beckendorf onto Porkpie's back had been worse than getting him onto the makeshift raft. Porkpie did his best to help, getting as close to the water as possible and lowering his neck for me. I didn't have strength left and my muscles protested in agony as I moved them again. The cut on my arm was seriously starting to bother me, too.

Still, I carefully hauled myself onto the side of the wood, careful not to jostle Beckendorf, and pulled myself up onto Porkpie's back before it could sink too much. Then I reached down to pull Beckendorf up and on. Because he had that piece of shrapnel in his side, I couldn't drape him over Porkpie's back. I had to get him seated in front of me so he wouldn't fall off.

This also took a while with some close calls where I almost dropped him back into the water. I didn't know what I would've done had that happened—I didn't think I had the energy to jump back in, put him on the raft, get back onto Porkpie and then continue to get him onto the pegasus, too.

 _Finally_ , though, I got him situated in front of me. I held his shoulders to keep him from falling and we took off. I was still shivering. I had no idea how I still awake. My arms trembled from the effort of using them so much along with being cold. The cut on my arm was still bleeding, soaking into my t-shirt bandage. I had used all my energy and my adrenaline was no longer coursing through my body.

It was by sheer force of will I was still awake.

When we made it back to camp Porkpie flew right over the beach, the dining pavilion, and the cabins. He landed in front of the Big House, neighing and whinnying loudly, grabbing people's attention. A conch horn sounded from somewhere and someone else called for the Apollo cabin. Other campers and nature spirits swarmed around Porkpie until the Apollo kids came rushing forward.

Without a word, half of them carefully pulled Beckendorf down onto a stretcher they'd retrieved from the infirmary. The other half started reaching for me, but I waved them off.

"No," I objected. "I'm fine. Go help Beckendorf." They were reluctant, but I glared at them as best I could through my exhaustion. "Go!" My siblings gave me one last wary look before running into the infirmary to help the others, all but one. I glared at Michael and he glared back. "Go help them." I mumbled, sliding—well more like falling—off of Porkpie's back.

My knees buckled as soon as I hit the ground. The world was spinning. I squeezed my eyes shut. Michael was at my side, keeping my steady.

"You are _not_ fine," he scoffed, his voice sounding far away and like he was submerged in water. I stubbornly tried to pull away from him, but I was just way too weak.

"I'll _be_ fine," I said.

"You've got hypothermia and your arm is bleeding really badly," Michael said as we started toward the Big House porch. "You need medical treatment right away. Besides, your brother would kill me if he knew I was here and didn't help you."

I couldn't think of snappy comeback to that, so I let him lead me up the steps. I looked back at Porkpie, who was watching us.

"Thank you," I called feebly. Porkpie whinnied and shook his mane. I only hoped that meant _No problem!_ as we entered the Big House.

* * *

I'd passed out before we got to the infirmary.

I started awake from another dream of Luke dying. They took place in different areas, but the way he died was always the same—from that wound under his arm. It always bled so much for something so small. So much blood…

Because the ship's exploding had passed, the vision of that no longer haunted me. I looked around, disoriented, my heart still pounding. I was in the Apollo cabin again. At first, for a scary moment, I thought the whole ship exploding had been a nightmare—even though I hadn't dreamed about it. Why wasn't I in the infirmary?

"Oh, good, you're awake," someone said. I looked over at the door to the bathroom. Michael was just exiting. He looked tired and pensive. He came up to my bedside and smiled, but it was blatantly fake. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," I answered automatically. Though, now that I was thinking about it, I felt a little lightheaded. And my arm ached. When I pulled up the sleeve of my shirt I saw that it was wrapped in fresh, new bandages. "I'm fine." I muttered again, pulling down my sleeve before throwing the blankets off of me and throwing my legs over the edge of the bed.

"I don't think you're—" Michael started to say. I ignored him and stood anyway, taking a few unsteady steps before I started to pitch forward. I grabbed the bed frame to steady myself. I closed my eyes as stars danced across them. The ringing in my ears intensified to where I couldn't even hear Michael scolding me. And my head felt like it was going to explode. I quickly sat down on the edge of the bed.

Slowly that all faded and I could see and hear again. My head felt better.

Michael handed me a glass of water. I took it grudgingly and glared at the floor while taking a sip.

"Tori, seriously, you should lie down again," Michael said, suddenly sounding extremely worn. "You shouldn't even be up."

"Beckendorf," I mumbled. "I have to check up on him. I have to—" Michael looked away and took a step away from me. The atmosphere dropped in the empty cabin. My grip tightened on my glass and I stared at him, dread forming in the pit of my stomach, like a large cold stone. I felt the tears fill my eyes.

"He's not—" I whispered. "He's not—"

Michael took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. "He didn't make it." He closed his eyes, the hands at his side fisting.

I looked down at the floor and let out a slow breath, taking in the information. He was dead. Beckendorf, who had his whole life ahead of him, who had a loving girlfriend, who was going to call to college in the fall…gone.

More tears formed in my eyes. My grip tightened even more on the glass in my hand. A scream bubbled up to the surface and I didn't hold it back. I stood and turned, throwing the glass at the wall, letting out that scream.

"No!" I cried. "No! He can't be…he can't be dead!" After I'd tried so hard. If only I'd just been able to heal like every other child of Apollo, we probably wouldn't even be here. Maybe if I had listened to him and we'd gotten far enough away before detonating the explosives, we wouldn't be here.

I heard Michael take a deep, shaky breath. "We did our best. But he passed while you were asleep. Silena wouldn't leave the infirmary for a…long time. She was there when he…when he—" He broke off, unable to finish the sentence.

I turned to face my half-brother. "You don't understand, he was supposed to live." My voice was thick. My throat felt tight.

Michael blinked hard. "We're at war. These things happen. They did manage…to blow the ship up, though? That piece of wood was from the ship?"

"Yes," I answered bleakly. "Yes, the mission was…was a success." The word tasted bitter in my mouth. Beckendorf had died. How could it be called a success?

I slowly sunk to the floor, covering my face with my arms, trying my hardest not to start sobbing like a baby as it crashed over me again. I just couldn't believe Beckendorf…. And how was Silena taking this?

I sat there for a long moment. Michael was silent. Then I remembered—

I looked up at Michael. "Percy!" I exclaimed. I stood, wobbling a bit, but managing to keep my balance. "Have you heard anything from him?"

Michael shook his head sadly. "No, I—" The sound of a conch horn in the distance interrupted him.

I exchanged a look with my brother before we both took off. Maybe I shouldn't have been running, seeing as I couldn't exactly stand without almost falling. But I needed to see, to know if Percy had made it. If he was okay.

I had to slow down a few times to catch my breath and so that my head would stop spinning. So by the time I got to where the crowd had gathered, which was the dining pavilion, I was near the back of the group. I leaned heavily against one of the tables. My ears were ringing too loudly for me to hear what anyone was saying.

Suddenly someone grasped my arm. I pulled away, fighting the urge to grab a weapon or twist their arm behind their back. I looked up to see Percy. His green eyes were intense and full of questions.

"Beckendorf?" he asked. I guess no one had told him yet, which surprised me. I shook my head, not sure what to say. Percy's hand slid from my arm and he backed away from me like I was some monster. His eyes filled with dread.

"I…I'm sorry," I managed in a small voice. Percy didn't like that for some reason. Anger replaced the dread. His hand fisted at his side. He clenched his jaw. I was afraid he was going to yell at me in front of the whole camp. Instead he closed his eyes for a long moment before going back over to Annabeth and Chiron.

The crowd started parting then in small groups. Someone touched my elbow. It was Michael again.

"You should rest," he said softly. I looked back at Percy who seemed to be avoiding my gaze.

"Fine," I murmured, turning and following him out of the pavilion. I collapsed into my bed and just barely had time to pull the covers over me before I was out.

I wasn't lucky with a dreamless sleep. Another nightmare of Luke dying in my arms haunted me again. My chest ached and my stomach tightened into a painful knot. Something touched my shoulder and I leaped up, out of bed before I was even fully awake.

When my brain fully woke up, I was hovering over someone, holding their neck and their right wrist to the floor. My knee was pressed against their crotch. Not enough pressure to caught pain, but enough to cause discomfort. Their free hand was gripping my wrist.

Breathing hard, I looked down at the person below me and then around the cabin. The rest of my siblings were looking at me with wide, shocked, worried eyes. I looked down and realized it was Michael below me.

Carefully, I removed my knee and both my hands, sitting back and letting him sit up.

"Sorry," I muttered, running my fingers through my hair and keeping my eyes locked on the floor. "Jerk reaction." I peeked up at Michael. He was rubbing his neck and looking at me with a wary, but impressed(?) look.

"Where…did you learn… _that_?" he asked in a raspy voice.

I shrugged. "An Ares kid."

Someone cleared their throat. I looked behind me. Cressida was lowering her hand. "Michael, you came in here to get Tori for something?" she reminded him.

"Right, of course," Michael said. I looked over at him confused now. I being summoned? He stood and offered a hand. "Let's go." I took his hand slowly and stood. As usual, I grabbed my weapons before we left.

I felt better now that I'd slept more. Still felt a little weak and my arm still throbbed dully, but was definitely better.

I thought about why I could possibly be called to the Big House—that was the direction we were heading—and how long had I been asleep this time?

When I asked Michael why he'd come to get me he didn't answer. He just dodged my question, looking nervously at me out of the corners of his eyes.

The walk there seemed more like a trek. When we finally arrived and Michael started to make his way to the rec room I slowed my walk, narrowing my eyes at the door. When Michael opened it and I saw a war council gathered I stopped walking completely.

When Michael looked back to see if I was following, he backtracked, holding the door closed without fully closing it.

"What's this about?" I asked carefully, crossing my arms.

"Please, just come in a moment and talk," he said in a low, drained voice. "That's all we want to do: talk."

I stared at him for a long moment. He met my eyes, unblinkingly. His shoulders were slumped and he looked like he'd been crying. I suddenly felt bad for making this worse for him, stressing him out more.

I uncrossed my arms and walked forward without a word. Michael turned and went in, taking a seat at the ping pong table. I entered the room and closed the door behind me, but stood next to it. My heart was pounding with all these people in the room, in a circle, all looking at me. They weren't in on the attack, but they were in what felt like an attack formation.

They all sat around the ping pong table, with me at the end, staring at me. The door behind me was closed. It was making me super nervous.

Detecting threats in the environment had become second nature. Now that I was at camp, I _knew_ that I didn't have to worry about that, but it wasn't like it had an off switch.

My hands drumming against my legs at my sides, heart still pounding, ADHD kicking into overdrive, I looked around the room. More to analyze where they were sitting and if they had weapons on them, really, because I was stuck in that mindset. As long as no one made any sudden movements, I think I'd be able to calm down enough I wouldn't immediately attack someone who moved.

The head counselors were there, except for Clarisse, which I found a bit strange. Her knife was on the table, though, which only made me more confused. Jake Mason, from the Hephaestus cabin, also sat the table. Probably the newly appointed head counselor.

My eyes went to Silena, then. A sad cup of hot chocolate sat in front of her, but it looked like it'd been spilled. A box of tissues sat next to the cup. Her eyes were puffy, red and bloodshot from crying.

I looked around at everyone else.

"You…wanted to see me?" I asked, though I had a good feeling that I knew what this was about.

They all looked around at each uncomfortably. Except for Chiron and Silena. Silena for obvious reasons. Chiron, probably because he wanted someone else to speak up. One of those mentor things, I guess.

"Why don't I break the ice," I finally said, maybe a little louder than I should have. "Is it about the spy?" I did a scan of their faces. "It's about the spy." I decided. "We've been over this before. I'm not the spy anymore. And I don't know who the spy is now. Can I go now?"

"You're sure you don't know _anything_ about the new spy?" Percy asked, breaking the silence among the group. He was looking at me with those sharp green eyes, like he was trying to work something out. I tried not to reach for my sword.

"I'm sure," I said, meeting his eyes.

"After all that time you never asked?" Annabeth spoke up. "You were never curious?"

"No, it never came up," I answered. "I don't know what else you want me to say. I didn't think it was important."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "That's awfully convenient for you."

I felt anger flash through my whole body at her comment and fisted my hands, but restrained myself. "What are you trying to say?"

"You're just…protecting him, aren't you?" Annabeth asked. "You're just protecting Luke."

I took another step forward, both hands automatically going to my sword—one on the scabbard, one on the hilt. How could she act all high and mighty when she cared about Luke just as much as I did? How could she accuse me of protecting him when I knew she still hoped that there was some way he'd be able to make it out of this alive? How dare she think she was better than me?

Michael jumped up from his seat and put his arm out in front of me, stopping me from getting any closer to Annabeth, who'd stood. Her hand was gripping the hilt of her dagger, meeting my challenge.

"Don't act like you don't care about him anymore!" I snarled, pushing against Michael's arm. "Don't—you— _dare_."

"Lay off her, Tori," Percy said, bringing my attention to him again. Though his ears were slightly pink and he looked a tad bit uncomfortable at the mention of Luke and Annabeth's relationship. "This isn't about her. This is about _you_. Are you absolutely, completely sure you don't know anything about the spy? Not even accidentally hearing something on the ship. Anything?"

"Nothing," I insisted. At some point, I had to say it enough that even I believed it myself. "I didn't ask Luke. I didn't pay attention to idle banter on the ship. I had…more important things to worry about."

Jake snorted. "Like what? Helping monsters recruit more half-bloods? Helping them _destroy_ our home? Don't dishonor Beckendorf by lying! If you know something, tell us!"

"Are you not listening to me?" I took another step forward, pushing more against Michael's restraining arm, gripping the hilt of my sword tighter. "I don't know anything about the new spy!" No one said anything after that. As I looked around at all of them, save Michael, Silena and Chiron, I realized something. My hand went away from my sword and I took a few steps back.

"You're never going to believe me, are you?" I asked quietly. "Why even bring me here if you aren't going to believe what I say?" I felt horrible and conflicted saying this because it wasn't true, but I'd sworn on the Styx not to tell Silena's secret. I didn't want to be the cause of her dad's death. She'd lost Beckendorf, she wasn't going to lose her dad, too.

"I don't understand, why keep me here, then? Why let me stay?" I asked. "If you're always so suspicious of me, then maybe you should just give me over to Kronos. I heard I have a bounty on me head. Maybe I should just give myself up. Save you all the trouble. Do what you want with the reward."

I turned and exited before anyone had time to say anything. Before I knew it, I was running, out of the house, down the porch steps and to the forest. I didn't want to go back to the cabin, not yet. I needed some time to myself.

When I'd completely run out of breath and my muscles were screaming, I stopped. I leaned against a tree trunk to catch my breath. Then I began to climb. I got a ways up and then searched for a branch large enough and sturdy enough to hold me. A few more feet up and I found two branches the V-ed out from the trunk, making a perfect sitting space.

I plopped down heavily and leaned my back up against the trunk, bringing my legs up on the branches and closed my eyes. It was here I would stay, in this tree, until I could figure out what my next move was.


	36. Losing My Right to be Wrong

_I jerked awake and slowly opened my eyes, blinking as they adjusted to the sunlight filtering through the porthole, lighting up the suite. The first thing I saw were a pair of glittering blue eyes. I was lying on my side and so was Luke. We were facing each other, a few inches apart. He had one hand on mine and reached out to caress my face and stroke my cheek with his thumb._

_I reached out with my free hand and gently pressed my fingertips between his furrowed eyebrows, smoothing them out._

_"Are you all right?" I asked quietly, pulling my hand away. His grip on my other hand tightened and he stopped stroking my cheek._

_"It looked like you were having a bad dream," he told me. I stayed silent. Luke started stroking my cheek again, but didn't push. For that, I was thankful. "What are you going to do after you I've— After Kronos—" He broke off, not able to say it out loud. I didn't blame him._

_I sighed and Luke pulled his hand away from my face. I turned the hand that he was holding over so I could hold his hand._

_"I was thinking about possibly going back to camp," I murmured, drawing lazy circles on the back of Luke's hand, not looking at him. "I'm scared about what they'll think. What they'll do." I paused. "You know, it doesn't have to be like this." I whispered. Luke put his other hand on the hand that was drawing circles. I lifted my eyes to look at him. He had an agonized expression and I instantly regretted saying that. We'd had this conversation a million times before. They had increased more and more after we'd visited his mother and he'd taken on the Curse of Achilles. I always felt bad for saying it, but I always went back to it anyway._

_"I wish you would stop saying that," Luke whispered, his grip tightening on my hands._

_"I just…don't want you to do this. I don't want to see you as—" I broke off and blinked back tears. Luke shifted closer to me while pulling me into his chest. I rested my head in the crook of his neck and closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth and feel of his body pressed against mine._

_His arms held me tightly, one his hands tracing my scars._

_"I can't…live…without you, Tori," he finally whispered with difficulty. I pulled back slightly to look up at him and reached up to caress his cheek._

_"You'd still have your friends," I argued in a soft voice._

_"It wouldn't be enough."_

_I sighed and smiled sadly. This argument had no winning sides. Yet I kept bringing it up, thinking, hoping, one day he'd finally see my point and just let me go, let me sacrifice myself. I didn't think dying would be that bad, and Luke would be a hero._

_Instead of continuing this argument, I stretched up to kiss him. He responded in kind. When we pulled away, both breathing heavily, he smiled at me ruefully._

_"Are you trying to distract me, Williams?" he asked in a husky voice. Without answering, I started kissing his neck, slowly working my way up to the small hollow of his ear—I smiled against his skin when he tensed—and the edge of his jaw. The edge of my lips lingered on the edge of his._

_"Is it working, Castellan?" I finally asked in a low voice, letting our lips brush. Luke shivered before devouring my lips with his, pulling me even closer to him. I knotted my hand in his hair._

_It was starting to get really heated, but the mood was shattered when the door burst open and lights came on. We broke apart, chests heaving, but didn't look to see who it was. We both knew. She did this on a daily basis. I'd gotten so used to it, I wasn't even embarrassed that we'd been caught making out, or that the suite was a mess with lamps knocked off the nightstands, curtains hanging askew, clothing littered everywhere —remnants of what happened last night._

_"All right, lovebirds," Kelli said loudly, annoyance ringing in her voice, as Luke and I gazed at each other, waiting for her to get through her spiel. "It's time to get up. You both have very busy schedules ahead of you today. Luke, you have more Labyrinth planning to do. Tori, we're looking to recruit a few more demigods in Scottsdale. I'll give you five minutes. I'll drag you out of this room if I have to in whatever you're wearing by that time."_

_With that, she exited, slamming the door behind her._

_I sighed. Luke rolled his eyes and I smiled. He leaned close for another kiss, slower and sweeter._

_We pulled back and looked at each other for a long moment before sitting up and gathering our clothes._

* * *

I peeked out the window at the front of the cabin, trying to decide when to make my move. Even though a lot of the campers were out on missions and recruitment was down because the satyrs were busy trying to prepare for the war and fighting their own battles, the camp still thrived with life. The green in the middle of the U of cabins was teeming with campers as they went about their day, went to their activities, doing their jobs like cabin inspections, and most recently, going through reports from the nature spirits and satyrs.

I wanted to speak with Silena, alone, about what had happened with Beckendorf. I wanted her to know and understand that I'd done my best to save her boyfriend.

I wanted to go to the Aphrodite cabin. There wasn't a guarantee that she was going to be in there, but it made sense to me that she would be. If not, I'd probably just go back to the Apollo cabin and wait for another chance to talk to her.

I saw Annabeth and Percy going in and out of cabins, probably for cabin inspections. I mostly wanted to time this when they went inside one of the cabins. I was only avoiding them because I wanted to avoid confrontation. There was clearly a lot of bad blood forming between me and the head counselors—Annabeth particularly, and I didn't want to feed that by running into her. No doubt she'd find something to yell at me for.

Annabeth and Percy didn't spend a very long time inside the cabins, so I'd have to be super quick, so as soon as they went into the Hephaestus cabin I dashed from inside my cabin to the Aphrodite cabin. I slipped inside and quickly closed the door. I did a sweep. It was empty except for Silena, who was sitting on her bunk eating a box of chocolates. I didn't know where the rest of the cabin was, but I was glad they weren't here.

I hesitantly approached Silena's bunk. My heart twisted painfully when I saw all the pictures of her and Beckendorf posted on the wall behind her bed.

"Silena…" My voice came out in a whisper. She looked up, her eyes blank, far away, like she wasn't really seeing me. I wrung my hands nervously. "I just…I wanted to apologize." I broke off and swallowed hard. My throat felt tight. Everything I'd been thinking about saying had just disappeared. I didn't know what I was doing here anymore.

I must've said the wrong thing, though, because suddenly her eyes seemed to snap into focus. Anger burned in their dark depths. She pushed the box of chocolates aside and slid off her bunk. I took a few wary steps away, my hands twitching as I tried not to pull my sword on her. Her hands were fisted, her jaw taught. She was glaring at me and her whole body was tense. My alarm bells were going off: _Danger! Danger!_

"You promised!" she yelled. "You promised me you'd save him!" Tears filled her eyes, despite her rage.

"I told you I'd do my best," I reminded her in a low, strained voice. It was becoming harder and harder not to unsheathe my sword. It wasn't that I wanted to hurt Silena, but all that time on the ship, around monsters, around my mortal enemies that had tried to kill me multiple times on Kronos's orders, it had changed me. Like I said, there wasn't exactly an off switch.

Silena took a step toward me and I quickly took a step back. "Then maybe you should've done the best of someone better!"

"That's not fair!" I snapped. "I told you that it might not work out the way you wanted it to. I _told_ you I'm just one person! I can't do everything right. Something went wrong when we were trying to get away—" _You told him to detonate the bomb too soon._ My brain corrected me. "Shut up." I muttered quietly through gritted teeth.

" _What?_ "

"…not you," I amended, looking away and trying to shake it off. I looked back at Silena. "These things happen, Silena—" I tried.

"He _promised_! He promised to keep Charlie safe! To not harm him!" Silena sobbed.

The words came tumbling out of my mouth before my brain had time to stop them, "Luke promised Beckendorf wouldn't be harmed, Kronos didn't."

Silena looked at me incredulously before doing something unexpected: she slapped me. It was so hard and I was so unprepared, I hit the wooden floor of the cabin. My hands went to my sword, but I managed to stop myself from actually unsheathing it. Instead, with a mighty effort, I pulled them away and slowly started to get to my feet, keeping my gaze down. My cheek stung, but I didn't have the energy to hold it.

"Do you even hear yourself?" Silena asked, her voice thick and watery. I chanced a look. Tears were streaming down her face. Her lower lip trembled. "Annabeth was right. You only care about _him_. Even after _everything_ he's done. All the atrocities he's committed, and you're _still_ trying to defend him." She shook her head, slowly backing away from me.

"I—" I broke off, not sure what to say to that. The sudden realization washing over me, the impact of what I'd said. I began questioning everything that I'd said and done. Questioning my love for Luke. Not in the "do I love him or not" but rather the "do I love him _too_ much" way.

At the same time…had my words yesterday afternoon meant nothing to her? Did she not see just how much I hated myself? How much I blamed myself for all of this? For everything, even Luke's bad choices?

"After he made a promise," Silena spoke, interrupting my thoughts. She'd taken a step back and was looking at the floor. "A promise to not harm Charlie…" She trailed off, looking away from me. The anger slowly dissipated from her eyes, and they became glassy and far away again. She started to sink to the floor, hugging herself. More tears streamed down her face. She bowed her head. "And now…Charlie, _my_ Charlie…" She continued to quietly sob.

I wanted to comfort her, to apologize, but I had a feeling comforting her would warrant another slap. And apologizing would only make her mad again. I stood stock still, in the spot I was, looking down at her. I didn't know what to do, what to say.

Then she said something so quiet I didn't quite catch it.

"W-what?" I asked, startled and wondering if I'd heard her correctly.

Silena lifted her head, her tears still fell, but she'd gotten control of her sobs. She didn't look at me. Her eyes looked off into the distance.

When she spoke again her voice was so soft I almost didn't catch what she'd said.

Almost.

"I wish it had been you." Her eyes flickered up to me. "It _should_ have been _you_." She lowered her head again, sinking closer to the floor.

I expected to feel hurt. I expected to feel guilty. I expected to feel like even more of a monster. Instead, I felt anger. I stepped back, swallowing hard, my hands fisting at my side.

How could she say that? After I'd gone on that mission _for her_. She was just looking for a scapegoat because she couldn't deal with the feeling of guilt for reporting to Kronos about a mission that got her boyfriend killed. And I'd _tried_ to stop it. And maybe I was in the wrong, defending Luke, but I was keeping her secret. I was trying to help her. I had _tried_ to help Beckendorf. I had wanted to, not just for her, but for Beckendorf, too.

And here she was, throwing that back into my face, letting everyone hate me and blame me for everything, and not saying a single word about it. Here she was, wishing that I'd died instead of Beckendorf.

The door to the cabin opened and I looked over to see who it was. Annabeth and Percy stepped inside. They stopped short when they saw me. Then, they saw Silena and got angry.

"What did you do to her?" Annabeth exclaimed, starting toward Silena, as I moved toward the door.

"I didn't do anything," I mumbled, keeping my gaze down as I pushed my way past Percy before he could stop me. He called after me, but I had already started to make my way back to my cabin. Unfortunately, the Apollo kids and Ares kids were fighting over that stupid chariot again and I didn't want to be around that. I needed a quiet place to think. I quickly turned and ran for the forest.

I stopped running when my lungs burned, my muscles cramped and my head started to swim. I put my hands on my knees, breathing hard.

I straightened up when I caught my breath and looked around, trying to determine what I was in the forest.

Someone's hand came down on my shoulder. As usual, I acted on instinct. I spun around while unsheathing my sword, slapping the hand off my shoulder before pressing the same arm to the person's chest and shoving them up against the nearest tree trunk. I lifted my sword as soon as their back connected to the trunk and held the blade to their neck.

Below me, the ground exploded and skeletal hands burst out of the ground around my feet, grabbing at my legs.

I froze, looking at who had snuck up on me. Before me was a young, slim, pale-as-a-ghost boy, with dark, wavy hair that hung in his dark eyes. He wore almost all black—black t-shirt with skulls on it, black pants, black boots, and had a black sword strapped to his side (which he was gripping the hilt of, but hadn't unsheathed it yet). The only non-black thing was his aviator's jacket. I remembered seeing him during that meeting when we were discussing how we were going to stop Kronos's army from using the Labyrinth.

"Nico?" I asked. He blinked, surprised.

"You remember me," he commented. I shrugged and pulled my sword away. I couldn't step away, however, because Nico's skeletal hands were still holding my legs.

"Sorry about that, force of habit." I told him looking down at my sword. When I looked back up, the son of Hades was giving me a strange look. "What?" I demanded, feeling offended.

His eyes flickered down to the hands still holding me where I stood. "You're not…repulsed? Afraid?"

"Would you like me to be?" I asked. "Believe it or not, I've had and seen worse." I told him as I sheathed my sword. The hands collapsed into piles before sinking back into the earth. I took a few steps away from Nico to give him some breathing room and personal space. "So what brings you to camp?"

Nico stared at me for a few seconds before realizing I'd asked a question. "You, actually."

I was on my guard instantly. "Me?" I asked carefully. He probably wasn't a threat, but I could never be too careful. I'd learned that the hard way.

"I wanted to ask you a few questions," he explained, not failing to notice my sudden caution. "Well, one in particular."

I narrowed my eyes. "Why me?"

Nico paused, as if trying to decide what he wanted to reveal to me and what he didn't. "My sources tell me you were at the Styx when…Luke took a dip."

"You have well informed sources," I noted. "Why do you need that information?" It was Nico's turn to put his walls up. His posture became less relaxed.

"I'm afraid I can't disclose that to you," he answered.

I smiled without humor. "Oh, I see, you don't _trust_ me. Is it because your _sources_ have told you about what I've done? Betrayed the camp. Gone to work with Luke." Nico didn't say a word, but I'd become better at reading people. It hadn't just been the monsters on that ship that I'd needed to be wary of. "You're still here, though, which means you haven't asked me what you really want to know."

"They also told me you were prisoner for a long time," Nico finally said, meeting my eyes solemnly. "That Kronos tried to kill you several times, all of which failed. And the one time you did die, upon Luke's request, you were brought back by Kronos. He must _really_ care about you to do something like that. It's not natural; you cheated death."

"You sound like the grim reaper," I said quietly, the energy I'd had a second ago draining from me. As far as I could tell, he knew just about the whole story. I wondered what he thought of me. Then I reminded myself it didn't matter. "Come to take my soul?"

It was Nico's turn to smile. Chills ran down my spine in waves.

"No," he said. "I don't get paid enough for that." His creepy smile morphed into a somewhat amused one. I felt the edges of my lips tug up into a small smile, too. Then it was back to business. "But you were right, I still haven't asked my most important question." I waited. "Do you know if Luke asked his mother for her blessing before he went to the Styx?"

It took me a moment to process his question. I hadn't quite been expecting that. I thought back to that cold winter day, when we'd visited Ms. Castellan. The living room full of mirrors and candles. The kitchen filled with endless piles of containers of PB and J sandwiches, trays of burnt cookies flooding the counter, and empty Kool-Aid pitchers piling up in the sink.

I thought about her frazzled state of being. Her fractured eyes. How they glowed green. Her deep, rasping voice echoed in my ears. The feel of her iron grip on my throat…. I reached up to rub my neck, that feeling of hands around my throat, cutting off my airways, coming back

"Why…would you need to know that?" I asked, focusing back on Nico.

"I told you already, I can't disclose that information," he responded. I looked at the son of Hades carefully. He looked slightly nervous. If I thought about it, it was because by asking the questions he needed to know, he was basically giving me the answer—I mean, the Styx? If Luke needed his mother's permission. They were not only related, but also quite specific. He was probably hoping I wouldn't figure it out.

But I wanted to know, so I contemplated this. If he was asking about Luke's dip in the Styx and if he'd gotten his mother's blessing, it must mean that either he was considering also taking a dip, or he was helping someone else to do it. From what I knew of Nico, his mother was dead, so he personally taking a dip himself was out of the question. If I thought about who might be crazy enough to do it because it was a "so crazy it just might work" kind of deal, one person came to mind. Adding in the fate of the world and the prophecy, I was certain of who Nico was asking this for.

"Percy," I finally said. Nico flinched like he'd just been shocked. Blood started turning his face red.

"What?" he asked, almost sounding panicked.

"You're asking for Percy, aren't you?" I questioned, ignoring his reaction. Nico looked flustered, but relieved.

"Very observant," he remarked. "I'm impressed."

"I try," I said before getting serious again. "Does Percy know you're doing this for him?"

Nico nodded, there was no point in hiding this from me now. "We've discussed this at length. I've been trying to convince him for a while now. I believe it's the only way he's going to stop Kronos." He paused. "So, will you tell me? Did Luke ask for his mother's blessing? If you don't know, it's all right. I thought I might as well try. It'd be easier than going to her place and asking her."

"You know where she lives?" I asked.

"Sources," Nico reminded me.

I considered this. About my visit there with Luke. "Yes," I finally said slowly. "He needed to ask for her blessing. You should go visit her anyway and take Percy with you. I think it would be important for him to get to know Luke a little better. Know thy enemy, and whatnot."

"You believe he's still in there?" he murmured.

I looked away and wrung my hands. "I have to. It keeps me sane, keeps me going." I whispered.

"You really think it'll be a good idea to go anyway?" he queried in a louder voice.

I nodded. "Ultimately, it's up to you, though." Nico pondered this. After a few moments, I decided I'd take my leave. "Well, good luck with your endeavors." I turned and started off, but Nico stopped me.

"Wait, one more thing," he said. I turned back to face him. "I wanted to say I was sorry to hear about Beckendorf."

My breath caught. "How did you—"

"I talked to his ghost," Nico answered quickly. "He wanted me to give you a message. He said he doesn't blame you. In fact, he wanted to thank you for helping him make it back to camp. For giving him a chance to say goodbye to his friends. And Silena. Especially Silena."

Tears welled up in my eyes. I hadn't even realized he'd held on long enough to say goodbye. I'd thought he'd passed away soon after they'd taken him into the infirmary.

I blinked rapidly and sucked in a sharp breath, turning away from Nico. A torrent of emotions swirled through me. A sob built up in my tight throat.

He didn't blame me? Beckendorf didn't blame me? I was almost relieved.

"You know, you're not such a bad person," Nico said suddenly. I sucked in another, shaky breath and wiped away the tears that had escaped before turning to face him. His face was sympathetic, but also, almost sad, knowing. "You've made some wrong choices, but you're here. So I'm assuming you're trying to fix them. Beckendorf understood what you were trying to accomplish. You shouldn't blame yourself so much."

I shook my head, my eyebrows furrowing. "This is the first time we've ever met. You don't know—"

"I can recognize self-loathing when I see it," he interrupted. His face darkened and I realized why he could recognize it.

I let out a harsh laugh. "It's such cruel irony," I said. "I was born a child of the sun, but all my life has ever been in darkness, in the shadows it casts."

Nico's lip curled up in an unamused, bitter smile. He looked over his shoulder at the shadow of the tree he was still standing in font of.

"I know a thing or two about shadows," he said. He turned back to me. "If you ever want any tips, feel free to ask."

I couldn't tell if he was joking or serious. Either way, I said, "I might just take you up on that offer."

"Keep in mind what I said, yeah?" he asked, stepping toward the shadow, but still facing me.

"As long as you keep in mind what I said," I told him.

He gave me that slightly twisted smile of his. "I'll see you 'round."

I gave him a two-fingered salute. He nodded once before stepping back, into the shadow, and, to my amazement, vanishing right before my eyes. It was like he'd fallen backward into a chute, not stepped into a shadow.

I walked toward the shadow Nico had just disappeared into. I stretched my hand out, passing it into the shade. I knew it didn't work like that, Nico could probably do that because he was the son of Hades, but still. Staring at my hand covered in shadow, some part of me wished I could disappear into the darkness like that, too.

* * *

That afternoon was the burning of Beckendorf's burial shroud. I was _not_ looking forward to that. Still, I wanted to be there to honor him. It was the least I could do. What Nico had told me eased a bit of the pain, though. It didn't really make me feel any less guilty about what'd happened, but at least _he_ didn't blame me.

I sat silently with the Apollo cabin (who'd put aside the petty feud with the Ares cabin) in the amphitheater, keeping my head and gaze down at the ground. It was only until the ceremony started did I finally lift my head.

Beckendorf's shroud was made from metal links, like chainmail. But not just any metal. Instead of using Celestial bronze like we did for everything else, they'd used a silvery, shining, beautiful metal. It reminded me of how Mithril had been described in the _Lord of the Rings_ books. (I couldn't read, my dyslexia prevented that. But my mom was mortal, she could. If she wasn't singing us to sleep, she was voice-acting the book series.) I didn't know where the Hephaestus cabin got the metal, or what the actual metal was, but that's what it reminded me of.

His shroud glittered beautifully in the sun, which seemed like an insult but an honor at the same time.

It easily burned. Silver metal turned to gold smoke that rose into the clear, blue sky. It seemed so wrong for it to be such a nice day when something so tragic had happened.

The campers drifted off quietly. I stayed sitting where I was, staring into the black bonfire. It was so strange to see flames as deep and dark as a black hole. With everyone else gone the amphitheater seemed to become strangely silent. I heard crying to my left. I looked over to see Silena, hunched over, her head in her hands, her body shaking from her sobs. Clarisse sat next to her with Chris as they both tried to comfort her.

Not wanting to hear her cry anymore—it was only making me more miserable and reminded me of what she'd said—I stood up and started to exit. I had horrible timing because just as I started making my way to the doors, Percy was making his way toward Silena, Clarisse, and Chris. Our paths crossed. The son of Poseidon glared at me as I was coming down the steps, so I stopped a few feet away.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a low voice.

My hands balled into fists. "Honoring a good man," I responded.

He blinked at my response and shifted uncomfortably. Then his eyes hardened again. "What were you doing on the ship?"

My eyes flickered to where Silena was sitting. Percy followed my gaze before turning and suddenly coming up to me, invading my personal space, and getting a little into my face. I took a step back, gritting my teeth and fisting my hands so they'd stay at my side.

"Did Silena ask you?" he questioned in a whisper.

I internally cursed at myself. "So what if she did?" I snapped in a whisper as well.

Percy stepped even closer. "We had it planned, for _weeks_. You can't just come barging in on a mission unannounced, just because she asked you to."

My eyes went back to the sobbing child of Aphrodite. I thought about my horrid dream, the aching sadness. I looked at the spot Beckendorf had been laid on stage and now realized what the sadness meant. I finally looked at Percy again.

"She wouldn't stop asking me," I whispered raggedly. "I just…felt bad. I wanted to help." The son of Poseidon was having none of it.

"Why _you_?"

I sighed heavily and closed my eyes. "Because I know the ship better than anyone else, here." I told him.

"You know for all we know, you just made things worse," he hissed.

My eyes snapped open and I glared at him. "Don't do that," I said, in a sharp but also almost pleading tone.

Percy blinked. "What?"

"Blame me for Beckendorf's death," I clarified.

"I didn't say—"

"You implied it," I interrupted. "Well, news flash, Percy"—I shoved him away from me; not hard enough to send him tumbling down the steps, but enough to make him step back—"no one said you had to save me. You should've just left me to die with the rest of the monsters."

Percy's eyes widened, his mouth dropping open. Immediately regretting letting the anger get the best of me (again), I quickly pushed past Percy and exited the amphitheater.


	37. Six

Okay, so maybe I had left out a few details, not just about the spy, but about other things, like how Luke was able to host Kronos. Some of those memories were just too much for me to handle, too much for me to go over. Also, within them held such intimate moments, I didn't feel comfortable revealing them to a big group of people. Which would explain why Nico was inquiring about Luke's dip and what he did before for Percy.

It would also explain why Percy disappeared after we burned Beckendorf's funeral pyre and didn't resurface until about a whole day later.

I wouldn't have to worry about what my next, next move was because that day later in the afternoon Annabeth got a cryptic message on her phone from Percy, followed by another cryptic message from the boy himself over the phone to bring everyone from camp to the Empire State Building. I don't think she wanted me along, but the group was big enough—40 demigods in total—that she couldn't exactly pull me aside to start a fight. Also, whatever Percy had said was nagging at her and she wanted to know what was going on, her curiosity won out over her mistrust. For now.

So we donned our armor, grabbed our weapons, and piled into the three vans that usually carried strawberries into the city and started toward New York. When Annabeth had announced we'd be heading to the city, Michael had decided to give the chariot over to Clarisse. Too little, too late, unfortunately. I was annoyed that the Ares cabin wouldn't be joining us, but was glad that Michael finally came to his senses and realized there were much bigger things at stake than a stupid chariot.

The ride was terrible and I was restless as usual. I had a feeling that we were going to hit the tipping point soon and the war would start, so that got my adrenaline going. I bounced my leg as we rode, my mind going a mile a minute, thinking about everything and nothing. No one in our van spoke, probably sensing that something was about to give, too.

I was glad when we finally arrived, glad to be able to stretch my legs. I was one of the first ones out and as the rest of the campers flowed out from the vans and crowded on the already crowded sidewalk in front of the Empire State Building, I looked up at sky and thought about what this was for. If we were at the entrance to Olympus, I had a guess it had something to do with Olympus, but what were 41 demigods going to do there? The gods were fighting Typhon.

"Thanks for coming, everybody," Percy announced once we had all gathered. I stood near the back, figuring _someone_ would find a way to start a fight if I stood too near the front. "Chiron, after you." He looked at the centaur, in his wheelchair form, but Chiron was shaking his head.

"I came to wish you luck, my boy," he said. "But I make it a point never to visit Olympus unless I am summoned."

"But you're our leader," Percy objected.

Chiron smiled at this. "I am your trainer, your teacher. That is not the same as being your leader. I will go gather what allies I can. It may not be too late to convince my brother centaurs to help. Meanwhile, _you_ called the campers here, Percy. _You_ are the leader."

Percy looked panicked for a second, then opened his mouth as if to protest, but he glanced at the group and Annabeth before realizing that he _had_ become the leader.

"Okay," he finally said, turning to face the group. "Like I told Annabeth on the phone, something bad is going to happen by tonight. Some kind of trap. We've got to get an audience with Zeus and convince him to defend the city. Remember, we can't take no for an answer."

He turned to Argus and requested he watch Mrs. O'Leary. Then he turned back to Chiron, who shook his hand. Chiron told him something that made Percy look uneasy for a few seconds again, but I couldn't hear what because I was near the back and there was too much noise from traffic and people, and general New York life.

Percy didn't say anything back. Instead, he turned toward us again and said, "Let's go."

I stayed near the back as we entered the lobby of the building. I was too far to hear what was going on up front, but we'd stopped. It looked like the security guard wasn't going to let us through. But Percy leaned across the desk and said something that got the gears turning in the guard's head. Finally, he hit something on the desk and jerked his head to the elevator doors.

It took two trips to get everyone up. I was in the second group. The ride up was just as bad as the ride in the vans, but worse somehow. Though it was shorter, we were getting closer to the coming war. Percy had said _tonight_ , the tension was building, pressing against my chest. I felt breathless.

And there were too many people crammed in this small space. I didn't like it. It was making me claustrophobic. Worse still, my brain had gone into do-or-die mode. I was analyzing what everyone was holding, where there were weak spots or open spots in their armor. And how many people there were—too many, it was too crowded. If a fight broke out (which I knew, rationally, wasn't possible) I wouldn't be able to defend myself.

Finally we came to a stop and the doors opened. Since I'd been one of the last ones in, I was one of the first ones out.

As usual, Olympus managed to take my breath away. I'd always liked it better during the night, because it glittered underneath the stars and it was just beautiful in all its gold and whites against the darkness of the night sky. It was still beautiful during the day, just not as dazzling, in my opinion. Only now, everything was still and silent. So unlike how it usually was. It was eerie, like a pristine, just abandoned ghost town.

The group started moving, I waited to bring up the rear again. I was trying to go unnoticed and unseen, not cause a riot; just do my duty like a good little demigod.

As we passed through the silent, empty streets, the only noise 41 pairs of feet as we walked, I looked around at all the buildings. The shops were closed, window shutters shut tight. The parks were completely empty. We did pass a couple of Muses sitting on a bench, strumming their flaming lyres, but they seemed distracted. There was a lone Cyclops sweeping the streets. And I saw someone duck inside of their home, quickly closing their shutters, but that was all.

We were just passing under a marble archway with statues of Zeus and Hera on either side when Pollux cried, "Look!" and pointed toward the horizon. "What is _that_?"

The whole group froze and followed his gaze. Blue lights streaked across the sky toward Olympus, coming from every direction. But as they got close to the mountain, they fizzled out and disappeared. We watched them for several minutes, they didn't seem to be doing anything.

"Like infrared scopes," Michael commented. "We're being targeted."

Everyone shifted uncomfortably at that.

"Let's get to the palace," Percy said.

I'd been to the hall of the gods before, but like Olympus it always took my breath away. The moving constellations on the ceiling, the size and array of different thrones that represented each god's individuality. It was always fascinating to me, as much as I didn't exactly like them.

We had no trouble entering, no guards or anything, just giant gold-and-silver doors standing open. Our footsteps echoed throughout the room as we came through. The room was big enough, though, that it didn't sound like an avalanche rolling by.

In the corner was a new addition, though. There was a globe of water the size of a house with the Ophiotaurus swimming around inside of it. I was a little surprised to see it here, still alive. When Percy greeted it, I then realized why. My gaze strayed back to the creature, my heart aching, remembering what had happened during that winter.

"Hello again, Percy Jackson," a woman's voice said as we approached the thrones. "You and your friends are welcome."

A woman in simple brown robes, with eyes filled with the firelight of Christmas Eve, stood by the hearth of the fire in the middle of the U of thrones. She was poking at the flames with the stick.

Percy bowed. "Lady Hestia."

The group followed his example.

Hestia's eyes stayed on Percy. "I see you went through with your plan. You bear the curse of Achilles."

The rest of the campers started whispering to each other about what Hestia just revealed while I realized it'd taken Percy a long time to get his mother's blessing and then go to the Styx. I had to wonder why. And I wondered where Nico was, too. Surely he was going to help in this war? Then again, I didn't remember hearing that Hades was helping the gods fight Typhon, either. That didn't mean Nico couldn't help. He'd already helped Percy with his Achilles endeavor.

"You must be careful," Hestia warned. "You gained much on your journey. But you are still blind to the most important truth. Perhaps a glimpse is in order."

Annabeth turned her head slightly to Percy and murmured something I couldn't hear. Percy didn't answer. A second passed before Percy suddenly nearly collapsed. Annabeth caught him exclaiming, "Percy! What happened?"

He straightened up and asked her something, but again, it was too low for me to make out. They exchanged a few words before Percy turned back to Hestia.

"Um, Lady Hestia," he said, "we've come on urgent business. We need to see—"

"We know what you need," a man's voice interrupted. Beside Hestia another god shimmered into existence, like a mirage. I took a deep, steadying breath. He was a little younger than when I'd last seen him two years ago near the camp's beach, maybe mid-twenties. But this time he was dressed in a military pilot's flight suit, with tiny bird's wings fluttering on his helmet and his black leather boots. In the crook of his arm was his object of power, the caduceus.

And even though he didn't have blonde hair, he looked so much like Luke. Especially because of the fact that he was near Luke's age now.

"I will leave you now," Hestia said. She bowed to Hermes, who didn't look happy, before disappearing in a puff of smoke. I wanted to do the same, but it become so deadly silent, I was afraid that they'd all hear me trying to leave with the armor I was wearing and my sword hanging from my side, not to mention my quiver full over arrows.

"Hello, Percy." The messenger god furrowed his eyebrows, his lips turning down into a small frown as he looked at the son of Poseidon. Then, and I may have imagined it because it happened so quickly, his eyes flickered up to meet mine for a split second before going back to Percy.

Percy bowed a little awkwardly. "Lord Hermes." The snakes started talking to him and he had a short conversation before addressing Hermes again. "Um, Hermes, we need to talk to Zeus. It's important."

"I am his messenger," Hermes said coldly, his eyes flashing. "May I take a message?"

I saw the group shift nervously and whisper to themselves.

"You guys," Percy said, catching their attention. "Why don't you do a sweep of the city? Check the defenses. See who's left in Olympus. Meet Annabeth and me back here in thirty minutes."

"But—" Silena started to object.

"That's a good idea," Annabeth said. "Connor and Travis, you two lead."

The Stolls perked up at this and straightened up, too.

"We're on it!" Travis said before the two brothers started herding the rest of the crowd outside.

Travis and Conner then split us up into two groups, with one brother leading one group and the other brother leading the other group. Each group would do one side of the mountain and meet back at the doors of the throne room in thirty minutes.

I was with Conner's group, along with half of each of the cabins. This also included Silena, much to my disappointment. I hadn't talked to her since yesterday and I had a feeling she was avoiding me. I wasn't sure if I wanted to clear the air or just continue to sit in the fog. Silena had been mad enough to tell me that she had wished I was dead, that's pretty mad in my book, so I wasn't sure how to approach this anymore.

As we were patrolling, which I'd figured out was a way to get us out of the throne room and give Percy and Annabeth some time to talk to the messenger god alone because this was pointless, we passed the park that I'd gone and sat down in the fateful night three gods had come and visited me. I slowed, staring down the pathway that'd led to the bench I'd spent who knows how long on, talking with gods.

The group passed me, paying me no mind. I contemplated about whether or not I should stay with them or just join back up with them when the thirty minutes was over. They were several yards away from me when I finally glanced back at them to make sure they were still not paying attention to me. Thankfully the group was big enough, they couldn't keep an eye on everyone.

I slipped between the bushes and walked down the path to the bench, sitting under a street lamp. It was glowing this evening, which I found a bit odd, but sat down anyway. I wasn't expecting some kind of epiphany or huge revelation, or for a god to visit me (because they were off fighting Typhon), but it was nice to be away from it all for a little while.

Even though sitting probably wasn't the best option for my fidgety body, I'd seemed to calm down enough, away from all the chaos, to be able to sit. At least for now.

I closed my eyes and tried to just let the night air and sounds of the crickets flow over me. Of course, I kept my senses on high alert, something I probably was never going to be able to get rid of, but I also tried to meditate in some kind of way. A way only a demigod with ADHD _can_.

I don't know when I finally noticed it, but when I did, it was unnerving. Too silent. Just the crickets chirping, the cool night breeze rustling the leaves of the bushes and trees. But that was it. There was something missing though….

I stood up from my bench and looked around, scanning my surroundings, grabbing the hilt of my sword. Something was off, but I couldn't pinpoint exactly what. I sneaked around the little area, trying to see if there was something hiding, perhaps.

The coast was clear, yet my alarm bells were going off majorly. All was silent—

My back went ramrod straight and I realized why everything felt so strange, so off. It was silent. _Too_ silent.

I ran from my bench, further into the park where I knew there were sight-seeing binoculars that sat right on the edge of the mountain, behind a guardrail. I didn't have a drachma with me, however, I didn't need one to hear that thousands of feet below me the city of New York, the city that never slept, was completely and utterly silent.

I sprinted out of the park to go look for my group. When I finally found them and told them what happened, they raced back to the park to check it out. Conner told me to go find Travis's group and bring them over here. It didn't take me too long to find them, thankfully, and soon all the demigods were gathered at the guardrail talking in concerned murmurs.

I went to the guardrail again as the Stoll brothers went to report to Percy and Annabeth in the throne room.

The four of them reappeared a few minutes later, going straight up to the guardrail. Their confused faces slowly changed into ones of horror as their brains put the pieces together.

"I don't…hear anything," Annabeth said.

Percy looked stricken and sick. His jaw was taught, though, and his eyes glittered with anger.

"What did they do?" he asked in a strained voice. "What did they do to my city?"

Percy pushed Michael away from one of the binoculars to take a look. Michael looked a little disgruntled. We exchanged a look and I shrugged. He sighed and shrugged back. For a time things were silent as Percy inspected the city.

"Are they dead?" Silena finally asked.

Percy pulled away from the binoculars, realization on his face as he straightened up.

"Not dead," he said. "Morpheus has put the entire island of Manhattan to sleep. The invasion has started."

Things moved quickly, then. We went back down to the ground floor of the building and gathered on the sidewalk again, stepping around the bodies of sleeping New Yorkers. We found a clear spot to gather around Annabeth's shield/monitor and discussed plans and battle tactics to hold Manhattan.

Kronos's army had grown. He'd recruited a lot more mercenaries, and even more who could fund him with things like tanks. My heart ached thinking about Luke….

It seemed impossible for only 41 demigods to hold a city, but Percy was determined. He stationed cabins at certain entrances/exits, talking strategy with them quickly and concisely. And, I suppose, it was almost was impossible, but the Hunters had good timing.

I almost felt hopeful, then caught a glimpse of Silena and my hope died like a candle flame in the howling winter winds. All this planning, all this strategy wasn't going to do us any good if Kronos knew.

But I wasn't sure how I was supposed to help anymore. I'd already sworn on the Styx I wouldn't reveal her secret. I couldn't exactly pull her away while they strategized, she was a head counselor, so Percy would give her orders so she could tell her cabin what to do. Add that to the fact that she hated my guts and it wasn't looking like pulling her away was going to work.

"You're the greatest heroes of the millennium," Percy said, pulling me from my thoughts. "It doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win." He raised Riptide, and shouted, " _For Olympus!_ "

The rest of the campers echoed his cheer, but not only was I feeling kind of hopeless, I also wasn't feeling this "for Olympus" thing either. I didn't like the gods, not after everything that'd happened between me and my father, and what Luke had told me happened to him. But I did know that the gods were better than the Titans. Maybe not by much, but they were better.

Still, I didn't feel like I was doing this for Olympus, so I didn't echo his cheer.

As the cheer died among the silence and the cabins departed to their separate stations, I glanced back up at the sky. I couldn't see Olympus, but I knew it was up there, floating above the Empire State Building, anchored to it.

 _I hope this is worth it,_ I thought. Not just this war, not just defending Manhattan while the gods dealt with Typhon, but my decision to stay alive for Luke. I looked down to see the backs of my siblings quickly disappearing among the bumper-to-bumper traffic as they made their way to the Williamsburg Bridge. I quickly caught up with them, glancing back at the Empire State Building.

We were at war. It already wasn't worth it.

* * *

When we finally arrived at the bridge, we went to work quickly. Michael had apparently been thinking of strategies and battle tactics the whole way to the bridge, because as soon as we got there he briefed us on what we were going to do and where we were going to be stationed.

First, set up traps. Well, one in particular. We had a stash of caltrops, but we were saving them as a last resource. The first line of defense was going to be a web of Celestial bronze metal as thin as a spider's thread, but still strong enough to dust monsters if they ran into them, unable to see or detect until it was too late. The reason why it was our first line of defense, was because the enemy would have weapons that could easily cut through celestial bronze anything. At the very least, it would get rid of one or two lines of monsters before the rest figured out what was going on and sliced through them. It also took time to set up.

We had them connected to special quivers of arrows Michael had brought with us when we left for the Empire State Building this afternoon. We picked a spot a little more than half-way across the bridge to set up, where we were going to hold the army as best we could. Then, two of our best-of-the-best shots (hi—Cressida says hi, too) stood on opposite sides of the bridge making the webbing while the rest moved sleeping New Yorkers from the first few rows of cars and to a safer area. We didn't have time to move all of them because as soon as we'd finished with the netting, we heard the army.

Michael whistled, signaling for us to move into position.

We ran to our stations, which was scattered and staggered throughout the cars on the bridge, not all in a straight line—too easy a target that way, considering we didn't have shields. We could hide behind the cars and the car doors, but it was still too risky to stand in a straight line and not smart.

In the distance, I could see a line marching toward us, with Lastrygonian giants in the lead. Based on what I knew of Kronos's battle tactics, behind them would be _draceanae_. Then the telkhines and hellhounds, then demigods. Of course, they could've changed now that the titan had a physical form. And I didn't know who was at command because there were so many different monsters that Kronos could've picked. Any one of them could be leading this army while the others lead the other armies.

It reminded me too much of the Battle of the Labyrinth, but it was dangerous to think about that. Especially now. Not only were those memories horrid and guilt ridden, but they also reminded me that we'd lost Lee during that battle.

This was a war. There were going to be casualties.

As the army approached and my siblings readied their bows, looks of determination etched on their faces, not doing anything to hide the fear in their eyes, a cold stone formed in the pit of my stomach. Any one of them, even me, could be killed tonight.

With that happy thought, the army descended.

The first trap worked perfectly. Almost the entire row of Lastrygonians turned to sulfurous dust before they even knew what was happening. Three remained, smart enough to not take a step further. The whole army hesitated then, not sure what to make of it. They looked confused and alarmed that we hadn't fired anything, yet had still managed to get rid of their first line of monsters.

We used this time to try and take out the _dracaenae_ before they figured out what was going on. When they did, the _draceanea_ with swords and the telkhines behind them easily hacked through the webbing. It wasn't long before they reached us. I was stationed near the front because of my capabilities with a sword. I did have to shoulder my bow and engage with my sword, but that wasn't a problem.

The rest of the night was a blur of switching from my sword to my bow and arrows. Explosions, cars catching fire, the screams of the enemy, battle cries from the Apollo cabin. The night filled with smoke and the bridge filled with light from the burning cars. There were moments when we had to pull back while pulling sleeping drivers from their cars and out of the firing range, and moments when we managed to push forward, push them away from the city.

And just when it seemed we'd dusted the last monster, we saw another army along the horizon. The beast leading this wave wasn't hard to miss because he towered above them, being half-ox and all. The Minotaur himself was leading and we were all tired and weary and almost out of arrows, having to scrounge up usable ones from the previous army while we still had time. We also took this time to treat any wounds that'd been inflicted. Mostly grazes and scratches here and there. I did a quick head count, against my better judgement, and noticed Melody was missing. I swallowed hard and ignored the feeling of the cold stone growing in the pit of my stomach. I had to concentrate.

Michael found a phone and called Annabeth before running up next to us to meet the second wave.

This time we didn't have a choice, we had to retreat. This army was larger than the last and we were already spent, in energy and arrows. Thankfully we saved our explosive arrows and caltrops for this type of situation, but it wasn't enough. As hard as we tried to even slow down the advancing army, our barricades of fire and caltrops weren't doing much. If a monster exploded into dust, they were quickly replaced by another one. The wall of _dracaenae_ at the front line with their shields locked together and spears bristling over the top (preventing me from engaging), was _not_ helping in the slightest.

So we retreated, trying to dust monsters when we could, create barricades, and pull sleeping drivers from their cars, but mostly we pulled sleeping people and retreated. I didn't know what we were going to do if they reached the other side of the bridge. I also wondered where Annabeth and Percy were and if they were ever going to show up with our backup or if they'd gotten occupied with some other battle more important than ours.

I stayed near Michael the entire time at his request. I don't know why he wanted me with him, but I obliged. I felt after that raid in Philadelphia we'd grown closer as friends and half-siblings. Michael had really come to trust me and it felt nice to have someone, several someones, who didn't always look at me with suspicion or disgust or anger.

I tried not to go running after the hellhound that grabbed Aaron. I steeled my emotions, locking them away, and continued to fire at the approaching enemy. Though, I did start targeting the hellhounds that leapt over the wall of _dracaenae_ with a vengeance.

Michael and I had just ducked behind an overturned school bus—it happened with the first wave—when I heard the Minotaur suddenly roar. I snuck a peak just in time to see the monster pick up and easily launch a white limousine into the air. I followed its flight path to see two pegasi and on those pegsi was our backup. Hopefully more would follow.

I looked back at the ever-approaching line of snake-woman and sniped at another hellhound as it leapt over their defense before turning and hiding behind the bus again. A spear clipped the side, hitting where I'd just been as the pegasi flew in, dropped their riders, and flew off again.

Michael ran up to meet them, but still behind the bus, and I turned back to snipe a few arrows at the enemy.

"Glad you could join us," I heard Michael say. "Where are the other reinforcements?"

"For now, we're it," Percy answered. I tried not to wince. If Percy had the Curse of Achilles, then that might give us some kind of edge. I hoped. I dusted another hellhound, keeping one ear on the conversation, wanting to know what the plan was.

"Then we're dead," Michael deadpanned as soon as Percy had finished speaking.

"You still have your flying chariot?" Annabeth asked.

"Nah," Michael explained. "Left it at camp. I told Clarisse she could have it. Whatever, you know? Not worth fighting about anymore. But she said it was too late. We'd insulted her honor for the last time or some stupid thing."

"Least you tried," Percy encouraged.

I managed to dust another _dracaena_ , but another simply replaced her. I cursed quietly in Ancient Greek. I glanced over to my left at the group for a second before turning back to the army, wondering when they were going to talk about strategy, because the enemy was advancing and quickly, too.

"Yeah, well, I called her some names when she said she still wouldn't fight," Michael said. I rolled my eyes. "I doubt that helped. Here come the uglies!"

Michael whistled and I ducked behind the bus again, looking to him for an order. He pulled his last sonic arrow from his quiver and we locked eyes. He nodded as he notched his arrow. I nodded back, getting my own arrow ready. I was running low—again—but I'd have enough for this last small assault.

He stepped past me and launched his arrow. It whizzed by, screaming, literally. As soon as Michael had launched it, I turned, stepping away from the bus, taking Michael's place as he ducked back behind the bus. Michael's arrow landed, releasing a blast like that from a power chord on an electric guitar, magnified tenfold. Cars nearest the arrow exploded as the blast of energy hit them. Monsters dropped their weapons, others ran, some burst into dust. I shot at the ones who were clasping their ears and running.

"That was my last sonic arrow," Michael sighed.

"A gift from your dad?" Percy asked, sounding impressed. "God of music?"

"Loud music can be bad for you. Unfortunately, it doesn't always kill."

I reached for another arrow only to find I had none left. I quickly got back behind the bus, resting a hand on my sword, but not drawing it yet.

"We'll have to fall back," Michael told him. "I've got Kayla and Austin setting traps farther down the bridge."

"No," Percy objected. "Bring your campers forward to this position and wait for my signal. We're going to drive the enemy back to Brooklyn."

Michael laughed incredulously. "How do you plan to do that?"

Percy drew is sword, not answering, but I suppose the motion in itself had been his answer.

"Percy," Annabeth objected, "let me come with you."

"Too dangerous," he said. "Besides, I need you to help Michael coordinate the defensive line. I'll distract the monsters. You group up here. Move the sleeping mortals out of the way. Then you can start picking off monsters while I keep them focused on me. If anybody can do all that, you can."

Michael snorted and rolled his eyes. "Thanks a lot."

Percy ignored him, keeping those piercing green eyes on Annabeth.

She finally nodded reluctantly. "All right. Get moving."

"Don't I get a kiss for luck? It's kind of a tradition, right?" Percy asked. It was my turn to roll my eyes.

Annabeth drew her knife and looked at the advancing enemy. "Come back alive, Seaweed Brain. Then we'll see."

Percy went to meet the army as Annabeth turned toward me and Michael. She gave me a distasteful glare, but didn't say anything else. I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore this. We were in the middle of the battle, there were more important things to be thinking about than this petty feud that'd formed between me and the daughter of Athena.

"All right, you heard, Percy," Annabeth said, addressing mostly Michael. "Gather the rest of the Apollo cabin. We'll get the sleeping mortals out of the way and then go help Percy. I'll keep an eye on his progress and tell you when to start helping him push the enemy back."

"All right," Michael agreed, sounding a little reluctant. He turned toward me. "Call 'em in."

We'd worked out this system of whistles. Being the children of the god of music, among other things, we could all whistle pretty loudly. Only Will could do a sonic whistle, but the rest of ours weren't too bad, either. So, of course, we had to capitalize on this skill. We'd developed a code, almost like Morse code. If we had the time and energy it could become a new language, as it was, learning Greek was hard enough, we didn't need to add another language on top of that.

As I was saying, though, we had developed a code. We all knew the code and could all whistle it if needed, but I think Michael told me to because he wanted to show Annabeth that I could be trusted. I wasn't sure Annabeth was going to buy it, but it wasn't like I was going to disobey our cabin leader's order.

I whistled as loud as I could, three short, sharp notes. A second later the rest of our cabin converged behind the bus. Michael told them the plan and we broke into groups of two to pull the people from their cars. I glanced up occasionally to mark Percy's progress. The first few times, he was engaging the Minotaur. At one point, he charged into a sea of monsters, stabbing and slashing, dust swirling around his feet as he advanced.

Michael whistled then, calling the Apollo cabin to him. We finished moving the people we were currently holding before going to him and then following him and Annabeth into the melee, behind Percy. Because I was out of arrows, I used my sword. I did, however, pick up spare arrows along the way. That was how much of the army Percy was taking care of before we even followed behind.

I looked up at him once after dusting a telkhine and almost forgot what I was doing because watching him was something incredible. The Curse of Achilles protected him from their weapons, his own weapon easily slicing through them and sending them back to Tarturus. If hurricanes were actually people, it would look like Percy in battle—he had become one of very things his father was known for.

With him disrupting their flow and taking out a majority of the army at a time, and our cabin keeping them from rallying, we managed to push this army of at least two hundred back toward Brooklyn.

Soon enough, there were only maybe twenty left, who turned and fled when they realized they weren't going to survive if they tried to hold the line. Percy followed them as they retreated. We ran after him.

"Yes!" Michael whooped. "That's what I'm talking about!"

When we got close to the Brooklyn side of the bridge Annabeth called out to Percy. In the east, the sky was slowly lightening.

"Percy!" she yelled. "You've already routed them. Pull back! We're overextended!"

Percy didn't listen to her, but came to a stop suddenly. We were right behind and stopped where he stood, looking out at what he was. There was a mass at the base of the bridge, not as big as the last two waves, but big enough that they could easily overwhelm our forces (seeing as we'd been fighting all night) composed of demigods in battle armor, mounted on skeletal horses. A purple banner with a black scythe design rested in the mass.

The lead horseman trotted forward, out of the throng, and took off his helm. The breath left my lungs as I saw the face of Luke, with his golden eyes. I didn't think I'd ever get used to seeing Luke like this….

Kronos had come to greet us.

The monsters we'd been pursuing reached the crowd and disappeared, protected.

Kronos's gaze swept over our small group, struggling to protect an entire bridge, and I swear he smiled. Just as in my dreams: cruel and cold.

"Now," Percy said, "we pull back."

The silence was broken as the enemy pulled their swords and charged, their horses' hooves thundering on the pavement. I sheathed my sword and, along with my siblings, shot a volley of arrows into the attacking army. It managed to take several out, but they just kept coming.

"Retreat!" Percy ordered. "I'll hold them."

We tried, but it was only seconds before the third wave was on us. I pulled my sword again and engaged, trying not to kill anyone, only wound them bad enough they wouldn't be able to fight any longer. I just couldn't get myself to kill.

Slowly, we retreated, fighting off enemy warriors and skeletal horses. I stayed near Michael, watching his back. At one point, the entire bridge shook, but I couldn't look to see what had caused it. All I was focused on was getting back to the other side of the bridge and making sure my siblings did the same.

We had made it to the last stretch, almost to the end. The rest of the Apollo cabin managed to break free from the army and were making their way to the end. I stayed with Michael, incapacitating the last few demigods when a blast of energy hit us. It was more like a gust of wind, really, because of how far away we were from it, but I still had to turn slightly and shield my eyes as it passed over me.

When I looked again, I saw Percy lying in the street, a few yards away. Michael recuperated much faster than Percy, his eyes darting over the bridge. I followed his gaze and looked at all the fissures in the pavement, with patches melted by Greek fire.

"It's weak," Michael muttered. "It's weak!" He ran over to the edge of the bridge and started climbing up onto the suspension cables. I followed him, but stopped at the railing.

"Michael," I called up to him as he notched an arrow. "What are you doing?"

"Michael, Tori, go!" Percy yelled. I looked behind me to see he'd gotten to his feet.

"Percy, the bridge!" Michael called back. "It's already weak!" Percy gave him a confused look before glancing around at the bridge. "Break it!" Michael continued. "Use your powers!"

Percy gripped his sword, looking uncertain, before stabbing it into asphalt. It sunk hilt-deep and water spouted from where he stabbed. Percy pulled his blade out and stepped back, the fissure growing in size quickly. The whole bridge began to shake and crumble. From where Percy stood, house-sized chunks fell into the East River, along with the cars sitting on top of them.

The whole structure jerked suddenly, causing me to lose my balance and I careened into the guardrail. Pain shot up my arm and I cried out, dropping my sword. My haze of pain cleared just in time for me to hear Michael let out a gasp. The bridge was still shaking.

I looked up in time to see him lose his balance and fall, his bow flying out of his hands, which were desperately grabbing for some kind of handhold. Time seemed to slow, though I don't think Kronos was doing anything to cause it. He fell right past me and I reached out, grasping for his hand, but I was too slow. Our hands missed by an inch. My breath left me as I followed him, leaning over the guardrail, pressing my body flush against it, stretching my arm out as far as it would go, ignoring the flare of pain in my right arm.

But Michael was falling too fast.

"Michael!" I shrieked as he continued to fall toward the waters below. His body hit the water and disappeared, but I continued to stare at the spot he went under, tears streaming from my eyes. I slumped against the railing, sobbing, unable to hold it back anymore. "No, Michael…"

I managed to pull myself away, slowing the flow of tears. We were still at war. I needed to concentrate. I had to do it for the rest of my siblings, to protect them. Because this was my fault. If I had just sacrificed myself….

I glanced to my left and noticed Michael's bow, lying a few feet away from me. I shuffled over to it, collapsing to the ground and grasping it in my good hand. More tears threatened to spill over.

"Michael!" Percy's voice sounded, followed by pounding footsteps toward me. I looked up as he came over. "Where—what?" He glanced at the bow in my hands before his eyes went back to me.

I shook my head, unable to say anything.

Percy took a few steps back, his eyes going back to the bow, looking stricken. He spun, suddenly, letting out a cry of anger and frustration.

"No!" he screamed, running his hands through his hair and letting out another cry. I looked back at Michael's bow and gripped it harder in my hands, Michael's body falling into the river playing over and over again in my head.

I vaguely registered the sound of a phone ringing. Percy was speaking again, but it was much quieter, more restrained, but still angry.

"Will," he called to my siblings who'd crept forward, onto the bridge again. I glanced up as Will jogged toward Percy. "I need you to come with me, quickly!" Will nodded, but not before throwing me a worried glance, and together they ran off. The rest of my siblings came over to me, inquiring about Michael.

I tried to explain what happened with broken sentences and through tears. And to my surprise and relief, they didn't seem to blame me. Someone took his bow from my hands while Austin and Cressida helped me to my feet, telling me I needed to get my arm treated.

I was later told I kept apologizing quietly, through my tears, but I don't remember it. I don't even remember seeing the fifty-foot chasm that Percy had created in the bridge. All I remember was not being quick enough to save Michael.


	38. One Question Haunts and Hurts

My siblings helped me off the bridge before they started treating my arm. Thankfully it was only a hairline fracture, so it healed nicely and quickly, but it was still sore. I'd have to be more careful with it. Still, it was better than breaking it completely.

After that we figured out where the rest of the camp was stationed (by using a sleeping person's cell) and headed off to the Marriot. The walk was slow-going and agonizing. At least, it felt that way, but the Apollo cabin was probably going to be needed to help treat the wounded. Even with the loss of Michael still fresh in our minds, my siblings continued to push themselves forward for the sake of the others, and probably in Michael's memory, too.

When we finally arrived back we quickly set to work. Well, I tried to, but Cressida told me I needed to rest.

"No, I know I can't heal, but I want to help," I objected weakly.

"It's okay," Cressida said softly. "Your arm still needs to time to heal. Just sit for a little bit. Then you can come help. Besides…I'm sure they're be plenty more times we'll be needed."  
It was a grim thought, but a true one.

"Are you absolutely sure?" I asked anyway. "I can gather supplies, that wouldn't jostle my arm too much."

Cressida put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me into one of the plush chairs of the Penthouse suite we'd overtaken for the time being.

"I'm sure." She gave me a soft smile before going to help the rest of our siblings. I glanced around at all the demigods and Hunters, all weary and tired from the long night. The Athena cabin clustered in a group near a set of balcony doors, murmuring quietly to each other. Even in a war, word traveled fast. When we'd called, instead of Annabeth picking up, it had been one of her siblings, so I knew that Annabeth had gotten hurt, taken a poisoned knife for Percy.

Silena suddenly burst from the balcony doors, making her way quickly past the campers and Hunters, her eyes determined. She passed right by me without a thought, but as she did it was like someone had zapped me. I found myself standing and reaching for her wrist, stopping her in her tracks.

She slowly turned to face me, glaring—her eyes were brown today, but they were cold and hard like the tiger's eye gemstone.

"Don't do this," I whispered, glancing around, hoping I wasn't making a spectacle. The others milled about, same as before.

Silena yanked her wrist out of my grasp. Her eyes went behind me, to the balcony doors, I assumed, before going back to me. Her dark eyebrows furrowed, the coldness in her eyes melting.

"You weren't—how did you—?" She broke off blinking. "I have to do _something_. Besides," her voice lowered, "if I'm gone, I won't have much of anything to report about."

She had a point, but I was getting a seriously bad feeling. Once again I spoke before my mind had time to process my words, "Doing this won't bring Beckendorf back."

Silena's eyes filled with tears and I instantly regretted bringing that up.

"I know," she choked, her eyes hardening. "But it will make things _right_." With that, she turned and exited the penthouse.

I watched her go, my breath not coming, her words replaying in my mind: _It will make things right._

Right.

Everything suddenly seemed overwhelming. The walls started closing in and the noise of the murmuring became talking, which became screams—it was sensory overload. I needed air. I needed quiet.

Breathing hard I quickly went out to one of the other balconies to get some air and away from it all. As much as she hated me and I disliked her, I hoped Annabeth was going to be all right. I figured since Percy had taken Wil, she was in good hands. He was our cabin's best healer.

I looked out across Central Park, trying not to think about what happened on the Williamsburg Bridge too much. Tears pooled in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I couldn't mourn, I didn't have time to. I couldn't afford to. _Not now_.

The sun had just risen, illuminating the park with its golden rays. I closed my eyes and took in a big, shaky breath. The air was cool this morning with a breeze that felt good through my hair. I enjoyed the crisp air—it soothed my nerves, dulled the ache in my chest over Michael, over all of this.

I found myself enjoying the quiet. It was odd, but nice to not hear all the sounds of cars honking and people yelling. It gave me a strange sense of peace. Sadly, this feeling didn't last long. I heard Luke's name and my attention snapped to a conversation between two voices I recognized: Annabeth and Percy. Annabeth had been the one who'd brought up Luke.

"…came to see me in San Francisco," she said weakly. If it hadn't been so dead silent, I might not have been able to hear her.

"In person?" Percy asked, his voice tight. "He came to your house?"

"This was before we went into the Labyrinth, before…" Annabeth's voice broke. My heart squeezed and my chest tightened at her words. My mind flashed back to when I'd seen him bolt up from that horrendous golden coffin, his golden eyes, the shadow cast over his face.

"He came under a flag of truce," Annabeth finally continued. "He said he only wanted five minutes to talk. He looked scared, Percy. He told me Kronos was going to use him to take over the world." I gritted my teeth, more tears forming in my eyes. I had known about this. Luke had told me a little after his dip in the Styx. But the reminders, the painful memories it brought back was almost too much.

* * *

_"Hey," Luke said, catching my attention. I was sitting at the dining table in the admiralty suite, staring at my plate of breakfast. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry though, thinking about too many morbid things, so instead I stared down at blankly as I thought._

_I blinked out of my daze and lifted my head, looking over my shoulder to see Luke standing behind me._

_"Can we talk?" he asked in the same soft tone he'd used to call my attention. He looked worried, slightly sick. Not physically, of course, but the expression on his face was that akin to one you had when your stomach churned._

_No, physically, Luke looked as healthy as a twenty-two year old should be. Maybe even a little healthier than that. Ever since the Styx, the effects of holding up the sky had vanished._

_"Of course." I gestured to the seat next to mine. Luke pulled the chair out and slid into it, sitting to face me. I turned to face him. He looked down at his hands. His eyes avoided mine, but I could hear him trying to figure out what to say. I reached over and took his hands into mine. Luke finally looked up and I gave him a reassuring, encouraging smile._

_Luke let out a long sigh and looked away again. Finally he said, "I went to visit Annabeth."_

_I almost pulled away from him I was so shocked. When? And why? Before I could voice these questions, Luke continued. He told me about how, after he'd thought I'd left him, he turned to Annabeth. He was hoping she'd save him from having to prepare his body to host Kronos, but she turned him away because she didn't trust him._

_I wanted to bring up that if he still didn't want to host Kronos, regardless of the fact that he had already taken on the Curse of Achilles, he didn't have to. But this was already taking a clear toll on him so I held my tongue and let him continue._

_"I told her to kill me," Luke said in a blank voice, staring off at some spot on the ground next to me. My heart ached at seeing him so despondent, but I didn't know what to do, what to say. All I could do was hold his hands and hope he knew I was still here for him._

_"I guess you can't count on friends," he finally said, bitterness filling his voice. His eyes had darkened along with his expression._

_My eyes slid over to the coffin on its dais at the end of the room. It seemed to have started glowing more brightly. I looked back at Luke and removed one of my hands from his so I could caress his face and make him look at me. I hated seeing them so filled with shadow._

_It was taking a risk, saying this now, with the coffin so close, but I didn't care at the time._

_"Don't listen to him," I told Luke quietly, but firmly. "Don't let him convince you of that. Annabeth still cares about you very much."_

_Luke's eyebrows furrowed, his eyes didn't clear. "How would you know?"_

_I scooted to the edge of my chair so I could be closer to him. "Because Annabeth and I are alike. I know how her mind works. She may not trust you, but she loves you, dearly. Don't let Kronos let you think otherwise."_

_Luke frowned but didn't say more. I held his gaze as he worked through what I said. And slowly, slowly, the darkness faded from his eyes. The glow of the coffin dimmed to next to nothing. I let out a mental sigh of relief and stroked my thumb underneath his eye._

_"Better?" I asked quietly._

_Luke managed a small, weary smile. "Better."_

_I let out a shaky, quiet laugh and leaned forward, resting my forehead against his. He squeezed my hand and brought his other hand up to caress my cheek. I knew my work was only half done here, though. Luke may have been able to fight off Kronos this time, but next time might be harder. And it wasn't just fighting off his toxic words, he'd planted the seed. If Luke watered those seeds and let those dark thoughts grow, there wasn't going to be anything I could do to uproot them._

* * *

"He said he wanted to run away, like the old days," Annabeth whispered. "He wanted me to come with him."

"But you didn't trust him," Percy supplied in a low voice.

"Of course not," Annabeth continued. "I thought it was a trick. Plus…well, a lot of things had changed since the old days." Her voice changed ever so slightly and I had to wonder what she was thinking about. "I told Luke there was no way. He got mad. He said…he said I might as well fight him right there,"—her voice rose—"because it was the last chance I'd get."

"It's okay," Percy said soothingly. "Try to get some rest."

"You don't understand, Percy," Annabeth continued in an almost desperate-sounding whisper. "Hermes was right. Maybe if I'd gone with him, I could've changed his mind. Or-or I had a knife. Luke was unarmed. I could've—"

"Killed him?" Percy finished. "You know that wouldn't have been right."

There was a pause. "Luke said Kronos would use him _like a stepping stone_. Those were his exact words. Kronos would use Luke, and become even more powerful."

I swallowed hard and closed my eyes, more tears forming. I bowed my head not wanting to hear the rest of this conversation, but I couldn't get my body to move, to go back inside. Almost as if I was punishing myself for all the pain I'd caused.

"He did that," Percy said. "He possessed Luke's body."

"But what if Luke's body is only a transition? What if Kronos has a plan to become even more powerful? I could've stopped him. The war is my fault."

I opened my eyes and blinked in surprise at that. That had to be the first time she hadn't blamed something on me. It almost felt nice to know someone else knew at least a little how I felt. Not that I _wanted_ anyone to feel like I did, to hate themselves as much as I did, but maybe it would make Annabeth hate me a little less. Maybe it would help her empathize and realize that what I was trying to do here, now, was make amends.

These thoughts only brought me back to what I'd trying to avoid just a moment ago. This war, all the deaths that had occurred since two years ago, since I became the reason Luke became Kronos, were _my_ fault.

Castor's death was my fault. Lee's death was my fault. Clara and Thomas. Aaron and Melody. Beckendorf. Michael.

My knees hit the floor of the balcony painfully, but that pain compared to the pain I currently felt in my chest was nothing. I gripped the railing, putting my head into my arms as tears pooled in my eyes and spilled over.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed quietly. "I'm so sorry." I _couldn't_ afford to mourn for Michael now, but now it wasn't even a choice anymore. If I just hadn't been so selfish! If I hadn't listened to Luke. Why did I love him so much that I was willing to let so many innocent people die? Why did I love him so much that I let him be possessed by a titan all because he told me he couldn't live without me?

I wanted to scream!

The doors behind me sounded and I quickly stood, wiping away my tears, looking over my shoulder to see who it was. Jake Mason, newly appointed head counselor of the Hephaestus cabin. It was like the Fates were just messing with me at this point, seeing how many hits I could take before I lost my mind.

"What?" I asked in a hoarse voice, only looking at him through the corners of my eyes, afraid that they were red and puffy. I didn't want anyone to know I'd been crying.

"Percy wants to talk to you," he told me in a hard voice, glaring at me.

"Right now?" I asked. Jake nodded. "Give me a minute." I told him before turning to face Central Park again. I took a deep breath through my mouth, my nose kind of stuffed and wiped my cheeks again. I didn't think that was going to do anything, but I did it anyway, convincing myself that it might help me not look like I was just crying.

I turned and followed Jake into the living room. Demigods and Hunters were still milling about. Some were crashed out on the beds. The Demeter kids had used the hotel's kitchens to make a whole buffet of food.

Percy was with Grover and Thalia, waiting as Jake and I approached. The demigods who were awake were gathered around the small group, waiting, too. For what, I wasn't quite sure.

Percy addressed me as soon as I came into view, "Are you _absolutely_ , _positively_ sure you don't know anything about the spy. Anything at all. Not even the smallest piece of information?" His green eyes were hard and scrutinizing, like he was still trying to figure something out.

"I'm sure," I enunciating carefully and slowly, feeling more horrible every time I denied not knowing. I was glad he still wasn't blaming me, but was annoyed that we were having this conversation again.

Jake snorted.

I glared at him. "Stop asking if you're not going to believe me." I snapped. If only they knew.

"I think she's lying," Thalia said. I looked over at her and tried not to panic. Her electric blue eyes were sharp and piercing.

"I'm not," I told her, meeting her gaze.

"There's no way you didn't hear _anything_ after being on the ship for two years," she explained. "Just no way. Unless you've got selective memory. Why protect the spy anyway? What do you gain from that?"

"I'm not—" I tried.

"Beckendorf _died_ because of the spy!" Jake snapped, taking a step toward me. "If you know who the spy is…his death is your fault—" He broke off, unable to finish. His hands furled and unfurled as he glared at me.

My alarm bells started to go off and I took a nervous step back. I drummed my fingers against my legs and fought the urge to unsheathe my sword. His words echoed in my ears: _my fault_ , _my fault_.

"Jake," Percy warned quietly. Jake looked at the son of Poseidon, his glare lessoning a little.

"Aren't you even a little bit mad? This spy is killing our friends, our _family_! Lee. Castor. Beckendorf. Michael. And she"—he pointed angrily at me—"might be protecting them!"

Percy's green eyes warily slid over to me.

Jake turned back to me. "You shouldn't have even been on that mission. It was for Percy and Beckendorf alone! Why were you even there?"

I took another step back, my hands trembling and twitching, my arms aching as I restrained them from grabbing my sword.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more," I said in a low voice. "I just…wanted to help."

"Well, then, stop," Jake snapped. "Because you're just making things worse. The mission might've been more successful if you hadn't been there. If you really wanted to help us, you'd tell us who the new spy is."

I wanted to object, once again, that I didn't know who the spy was, but his tone of voice and his choice of words brought me back to the Aphrodite cabin, when Silena had told me she had wished I had died instead of Beckendorf.

I looked around at the gathered demigods and Hunters, back at the group in front of me. I felt anger and hurt and pain well up in my chest. I felt the self-loathing. I felt the agony of losing so many of my friends, two of my siblings, because I couldn't make a simple choice to die.

"Go ahead," I finally said in a surprisingly level voice for how tumultuous I felt on the inside, looking at Jake. "Just say it. I know you're all thinking it." My voice started to raise as tears formed in my eyes and the emotions started to spill over. I looked around at the demigods. "You wish it had been me." I choked out. "You wish I had died instead of Beckendorf." I looked back at Jake, ager lacing my voice. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I wish it had been me, too."

I ran off then, like I usually did when I let my emotions get the best of me in a situation. Only, I had a destination in mind, I knew exactly what my next move was going to be.

I jammed my finger on the down button for the elevators. The doors slid open almost immediately and I slipped inside, hitting the button for the ground floor. Just as the doors were closing, Will slipped inside with me. I tried not to take my anger and frustration and pain out on him.

"What are you doing?" I asked in a tight voice. Will reached across, to the panel with all the buttons, and pressed one that shut the elevator down, stopping it completely in its tracks. I looked at him incredulously and took a step away. "Will?" I asked, my heart pounding. I didn't think he'd hurt me, he was one of my siblings after all, but my alarm bells, like they always did nowadays, started going off at the slightest notion of danger or trouble—or what my brain perceived as danger or trouble.

"Whatever it is you're thinking about doing, don't do it," he told me in a low voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I snapped, reaching to press the button he'd just pressed, only Will jumped in front of me and blocked the panel with his whole body. His blue eyes were dead serious, and even though he looked a little pale and shaken, possibly still recuperating from healing Annabeth, he stood with his shoulders back and chin held high.

I stepped away from him, trying not to get panicky. I was starting to feel slightly claustrophobic.

"I know you're angry, but doing rash things will not help the situation," Will told me in the same quiet, measured voice. It was very soothing. My fluttering heart stopped fluttering so much and settled as his words washed over me. Will had always been good with words.

Still, I wasn't going to let this words convince me not to do what I wanted, no _needed_ , to do.

"It might end this war sooner, it might save more lives from being lost—" My voice got hoarse and cracked as I thought about all the friends we'd already lost. I blinked away the tears that formed in my eyes.

Will's eyes widened as he put two and two together. "You're going to give yourself up to Kronos," he whispered, deflating a little. "Tori—"

"I have to at least _try_ to make things right!" I interrupted. "This is all my fault. I'm sure you're heard—this camp can't live without gossip—but Luke only did all those things because he was protecting me. Kronos held my life for leverage to get Luke to continue doing his bidding. And I just… _let him_. I could've sacrificed myself, but I couldn't abandon Luke, I just…couldn't…" I trailed off and quickly wiped away the tears that'd formed and slid down my cheeks.

"But now, now I can make things right," I continued. "If I go to Kronos, he'll kill me, which might snap Luke out of it enough to take control and get rid of Kronos before he can do any more damage, before he can hurt anyone else we care about."

Will was silent for a long time. I was almost tempted to push him aside and push the button to get this elevator going again, but finally he spoke.

"You know, the Apollo cabin cares about you. They don't wish you had died instead of Beckendorf. _I_ don't wish that, either," he said softly.

"I know that." I sighed sharply. "I wasn't including you guys. It was heat of the moment."

"Don't do this, Tori," Will said again. "You don't know _what_ Kronos wants from you. And you've got to take the Great Prophecy into consideration. It's never good to mess with them or try to change them, bad things happen. You and I, being children of Apollo, know this more than anyone else at camp."

"…I have to try," I whispered. "I don't care about the prophecy. I'm tired to seeing my friends die. I'm tired of being blamed for every single bad thing that happens to us. I don't want any more needless deaths."

Will's eyes looked tired and he slumped even more. "I don't want that, either. But…I don't think this will end well. Please…if not for me, then for Michael…" His voice trailed off and his eyelids slid closed.

"Will!" I gasped, stepping forward to catch him. I quickly checked his pulse. It was fine, perfectly strong. I scoffed and rolled my eyes, shifting him so that he was half-standing, half-leaning against me. He was exhausted from fighting, from healing Annabeth, and used the last of his energy to tell me not to go turn myself over to Kronos. Figures.

I pressed the button to get the elevator going again, but when we got to the first floor, I let the doors close and pressed the button for the penthouse suites. I looked down at his sleeping form and sighed, staring at the doors blankly. I couldn't believe he was only thirteen and having to go through all of this.

Then again, I'd only been thirteen when my mom had been attacked by a hellhound. Demigod lives really sucked.

When the doors slid open again, I was bombarded with the rest of my cabin. They saw Will and flew into a panic, but I quickly assured them he was all right.

"He just needs sleep, he's worn himself ragged," I told them, handing him over to Austin, who pulled one of Will's arms over his shoulder.

"I'll find a bed for him," he said. "Kid's going to work himself to death." Austin muttered, shaking his head as he headed off. The rest of the cabin exchanged glances in agreement.

"Speaking of sleeping, Tori," Cressida chimed. "You should be resting to."

"Guys, I'm fine," I promised, holding up a hand. "You guys should rest. You're going to need it."

"We're all going to need it," Alex commented. He was leaning against the doors on the left side so they wouldn't close, his arms crossed. "Come on." He gestured inside the suite with his head. I looked at my half-siblings, waiting for me and realized they weren't going to budge.

I sighed and trudged back into the penthouse, following them as they went to find a place to crash.

* * *

"No, Luke!" I bolted upright, breathing hard. I looked around the room, disoriented for a moment at all the nice beds and fancy curtains, the other demigods (aside from my siblings) and Hunters giving me strange or hateful looks. Then I remembered where I was. I looked at the bed, at the spot between my feet and pressed my palms to my temples, closing my eyes and trying to get my breathing under control.

The nightmares were getting worse. The ache in my chest lasted longer and longer after I woke up. Not even the sun could ward off my visions anymore. I heard the clip-clop of hooves and looked up to see Grover enter the room with one of the Hunters behind him. She was only probably about twelve, but she stood tall and proud, like the rest of the Hunters. It was always so strange to me to see such young girls look so timeless and full of wisdom. For all I knew she had lived thousands of years, or had just joined.

The satyr headed straight toward me, giving me a weary look, nervously twisting the edge of his shirt in his hands. The Hunter followed like a body guard.

"Prometheus wants to speak with you," Grover said in a quiet voice. "Come with me, please."

I blinked. "What?"

"Please, just…it's hard to explain," he said. "Just follow me." He turned without another word and clip-clopped out, leaving me no choice but to follow if I wanted to know what this was all about. A titan summoning me?

I strapped my sword to my waist, my dagger already in its sheath, and quickly grabbed my bow and quiver of arrows before following Grover out. We exited the penthouse suites and took a long, silent, tense elevator ride down to the ground floor. From there we headed into Central Park.

It wasn't a long walk and I saw where we were meeting long before we got there because of the big blue Hyperborean giant that was tromping around the park.

I was surprised to see Percy and Thalia at a picnic table, waiting with another man who was dressed in a tux and had thick-framed glasses on. Resting on the picnic table was a Greek jar. I didn't fail to notice the _empousa_ , dressed to the nines in a black evening gown, sitting off to the side. A giant white flag rested against a tree, nearly crushing it.

Grover, the Hunter, and I walked up to the table. Thalia nodded to the Hunter before she took off, quick and silent like a gazelle. I looked at all of them before turning toward the man in the tux, assuming he was the titan, Prometheus. Now that I was closer to him I could see the scars on his face from where the vultures had picked at him.

"What's this about?" I crossed my arms, but I was very aware of where everyone was standing, including the _empousa_. Especially the _empousa_.

Prometheus smiled kindly, friendly. "Why don't you have a seat, my dear?" He waved his hand across from him. I looked at him carefully before slowly going up to the table and taking a seat. Prometheus looked at the three behind me. "You are free to go, now, if you wish. This is just between me and Miss Williams."

I looked over my shoulder to see what they'd do. Thalia and Grover had already taken a step or two back. Percy stood where he was, looking at me intently. I could see the questions and wonder in his eyes—what this was about? His brow was furrowed.

Thalia grabbed his arm and pulled him back a step, murmuring something in his ear too quiet for me to hear.

Percy looked over at Thalia, then.

"It's fine," he said, pulling his arm from her grasp. "I want to know what's going on. This could be important. You can go if you want to." Percy came up to the table then and took a seat next to me, on my right. I tried not to look too stunned as Thalia and Grover went to stand behind Percy, on either side of him.

I turned back to Prometheus who was looking amused at our mortal antics.

"Well," I prompted, bringing his attention back to me.

"Right, then, I'll make this quick and easy," he said smoothly. "Kronos would like to have a word with you."

I looked at him for a long moment before turning around to look behind me. I turned back to face the titan.

"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong person," I said.

Prometheus smiled, but he wasn't amused. "He said you were fiery, not a comedian," he remarked.

"Oh, it's good to know titans gossip, too." I remarked. Prometheus opened his mouth, probably to get this conversation back on track, but I rolled my eyes and continued, "Can he take a message? I'm _kind of_ in the middle of a war."

"Only kind of?" Prometheus asked, raising an eyebrow. "See, I can do it, too. And no, my dear, face-to-face were his orders."

I scoffed. "And what if I say no? I know how much he hates me. I know how much he was _love_ to torture me for all the hardships I've caused him. You honestly thought you could _ask_ me to come and I'd go?"

Prometheus sighed and shook his head sadly. "Then I'm afraid we're going to have to resort to more…persuasive tactics."

I leaned to my left as an _empousa_ 's claw swiped down between me and Percy, her nails embedding into the table. Grover grabbed Percy's arm as Percy leaped away and pulled his sword. Thalia's bow appeared in her hands and she had notched an arrow, ready to fire at any second. I grabbed the she-demon's wrist to hold her in place as I stood and turned, bringing my knee into her stomach before using my free hand to grab her neck while she was stunned and slam her down against the table as hard as I could, finally letting go of her wrist.

She didn't disintegrate, but she hissed in pain and her clawed hands came up to grab my wrist. She didn't scratch at my arm yet, though.

I looked back up at Prometheus, who didn't even flinch.

"Nice try," I told him. "But you're going to have to do better than that. I've lived with these _things_ for two years. I know their tricks."

The titan sighed again, looking genuinely disappointed and sad. He looked away and shook his head. "I was afraid it would come to this," he said. My grip tightened on the _empousa_ 's neck. What was he talking about? He looked back at me. "I didn't want to have to resort to this, but you've left me no choice. I'm afraid if you don't come with me today, your brother will die."

My grip tightened even more as panic washed through me. How could I have forgotten about Dan? He wouldn't be under the spell like the other mortals. He must have wandered out, wondering what was going on. If he was confused enough, monsters could've easily snuck up on him. My head reeled.

He'd found a life. He'd escaped _this_. He couldn't die. Not like Beckendorf.

Then something occurred to me. I glared at Prometheus.

"How do I know you're not lying?" I asked him carefully. Without missing a beat, he straightened up and reached into his jacket pocket. My blood ran cold when he pulled out a Celestial bronze letter opener, fashioned like Godric Gryffindor's sword, and set it gently on the table in front of me.

"Where did you get that?" I asked in a whisper, tearing my eyes away from the letter opener to look at the titan.

"Where do you think?" he responded in a quiet voice. It struck me as odd that he sounded genuinely regretful he was telling me this, that they'd kidnapped my brother and were now using him as leverage against me.

"How do I know he's even still alive," I managed to choke out, dread filling every pore of my body. I had to ask it. If he was—gods forbid—already dead, then this was still a trap to lure me into Kronos's waiting scythe.

Prometheus waved his hand and large prism appeared at the edge of the table, creating a large, vibrant rainbow on the surface. He then pulled out a golden drachma and flipped it into the rainbow. Instead of making a hard landing, it dropped into the rainbow like it was falling into water, except it made no splashing noise.

"O, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering," the titan said. "Show me Daniel Williams, please."

The rainbow shimmered and an image formed. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach when I saw Dan. His hands were bound behind his back and he was being guarded by two _empousai_. His mouth was duct taped. He sat on the ground, against a wall, but he was slumped. He looked sleep deprived, his eyes half-open. There were also cuts on his arms and across his chest. His face was bruised, a black eye already forming. I don't think they'd fed him, either.

I reached forward with a shaking hand, slowly sitting back down, folding my left leg underneath me, and letting go of the _empousa_ 's neck. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the image. I felt tears pool in my eyes.

When he noticed me, his eyes opened fully and brightened. He tried to call or say something, forgetting he couldn't speak.

"Let him go," I said in a weak voice, looking up at Prometheus. "Please…"

"Only if you come with me," the titan responded in a light voice. "If not, then I'm afraid…" He trailed off and his eyes strayed to the image again. My eyes followed his gaze. One of the _empousa_ went toward Dan and put her bronze leg on Dan's thigh. The motion was quick, but the snap of bone rang through the image loud in clear. Dan cried out, his screams muffled by his gag, and fell onto his side, trying to get away from the _empousa_ , his arms straining against his binds. On his side I could also see more cuts on his arms.

"Dan!" I cried, reaching out, but the connection was cut, the image disappeared. My whole body was shaking, my heart pounding. My hands went to the table as if I could bring the image back by sheer force. "Dan! No! Dan!" I looked frantically at the edge of the table to see the prims had vanished. The sound of his leg breaking played on repeat. My heart squeezed painfully.

My eyes flew to Prometheus. "Don't hurt him!" My voice shook. "Just let him go, he has nothing to do with this."

"I will let him go once you have agreed to come with me," he repeated in the same calm voice.

My anger flared unexpectedly, burning away the pain at seeing my brother tortured. I stood again, leaning toward Prometheus, but the _empousa_ grabbed my upper forearm with a clawed hand. I ignored her completely.

"Fine," I growled through gritted teeth. "But this is going to be an exchange. Me for him. He can't be hurt anymore in any way, shape or form, or the deal's off."

"I promise, I won't harm a single hair on his head," Prometheus told me.

I scoffed. "Only you?" I asked bitterly. "No," I snarled, "I need you to guarantee, _really_ promise _Kronos_ and anyone under his command will _not_ harm him. No loopholes, no backdoors. We make the exchange in one hour at this spot. Dan is safe, alive and unhurt, in any _way—shape—or form_. _Don't_ play games with me." My voice shook with barely contained rage.

"I'm afraid I can't guarantee—"

I leaned forward even more, getting in Prometheus's face, my voice lowering to a dangerous level. "Then you tell Kronos if he kills Dan, if my brother doesn't come back unhurt any more than he already is physically or otherwise, he won't get me. He'll know what I mean."

Prometheus looked at me for a long time, his eyes sharp and calculating. His calm demeanor was starting to chip away, piece by piece. He wasn't used to be being challenged. Not as a titan and not by a mere half-blood, I'm sure.

"And if he does happen to die?" he finally asked.

"Then I'll kill you."

The titan's lips pulled up in a smirk and he scoffed, "You can't kill a titan—"

Quick as lightening I grabbed the letter opener still lying on the table and spun, using the fact that the _empousa_ was still holding my arm against her, pushing her back up against the table before plunging the blade into the hollow of her neck. Her form disintegrated and I looked back up at Prometheus, gripping the letter opener and met his eyes challengingly.

"Watch me."

Prometheus's cool slipped away completely and he glared at me. His face was devoid of emotion, but his eyes glowed dangerously behind his ridiculous thick-rimmed, hipster glasses. Finally, he stood—I straightened up, too, squaring my shoulders and lifting my chin—buttoning the jacket of his tux and straightening it out by patting it down with one hand, carefully, like he was trying to control his anger.

He was much taller than I was, at least seven feet, but I met his gaze evenly, not going to back down now.

"I've never been threatened like that before from someone like you," he stated quietly, his voice dripping with contempt.

I straightened my own shirt, only I pulled the edge down forcefully to do so. "Get used to it." Without another word, I snatched up the letter opener and then turned to exit the park. I heard quick footsteps following me, but didn't have to look back to know it was Percy, Thalia, and Grover. The clop of hooves from Grover was enough to tell me so.

* * *

 **I'd like to credit BBC's** _**Sherlock** _ **once again for the small exchange between Tori and Prometheus at the end there. It's reminiscent of when Moriarty went to Sherlock's flat in** _**The Reichenbach Fall** _ **, where Sherlock stands and tells Moriarty he never liked riddles and Moriarty stands too and tells him to "learn to." I just really liked how, even though Moriarty is noticeably shorter, he still holds command of this interaction and has a lot of presence. I also really loved how they showed that height difference. Cinematically, it was a great choice. Anyway, yeah, gotta give credit where it's due.**

 **Title taken from "No Good Deeds" from the musical** _**Wicked** _ **.**


	39. How Doth the Little Crocodile?

"You're not seriously going to do this?" Percy asked, walking faster and coming to stand next to me as we made our way back to the Plaza.

I didn't even glance at him as I answered, "I have to. He's got my brother." My grip tightened on the letter opener. "I'm not going to pick the alternative. I've caused enough suffering."

"And what if he kills you? Then what?" Percy persisted.

I finally looked over at him and met his gaze. "Then you have one less thing to worry about."

I started walking faster. Percy faltered in his steps, falling behind before jogging to catch up with me again.

"I thought you said you weren't helping him anymore," he said in a dangerous voice.

"I'm _not_ ," I snapped. "But you all seem to think I am, so it doesn't really matter if I actually am or not, now does it? If I'm gone then you can stop worrying your silly little heads about whether or not I'm going to suddenly turn on you guys and focus on winning this war. Besides, out of the two us, Dan should be the one who lives."

"Tori—" Percy tried again.

I stopped walking and faced the son of Poseidon, forcing them all to stop. "This isn't your decision, Percy. I appreciate that you continue to care about me, but you need to stop and focus on what's more important in the bigger scheme of things. I have two options here, stay with you and let Kronos kill my brother, or give myself over to Kronos and save my brother's life. If you have _anyone_ you care about—doesn't have to be a family member—wouldn't you do the same thing?"

Percy blinked and I could see him contemplating this.

"Then at least let me come with you, to the exchange," he said finally.

"No," Thalia said, stepping closer to me and Percy. "You need to rest." She told him. "Once night falls again Kronos is going to throw all he's got at us. We just barely managed to survive last night. We need you in top condition."

Percy looked like he wanted to object, but I spoke before he could. "It's fine. I'll get one of my siblings to go with me. Thalia's right, you need to rest. After all, you're leading this regime."

I could tell he wanted to argue, but there was no argument to come up with. Without another word we started walking again. When we got to the Plaza, I went to go find my siblings as Percy, Thalia, and Grover went off to rest.

I hated to wake the rest of the Apollo cabin when they needed their rest, also, but they deserved to know what was going on. Dan was their sibling, too.

When I'd gathered all of them I told them what'd happened. They insisted they all come, for support and to help treat Dan when we got him back. I argued that they needed their rest and really only needed one person to go with me, but they insisted. I finally reluctantly agreed. After deciding that, our cabin broke apart, to get food or water, to prepare their bows and quivers, or to just pace.

I searched for Kayla and pulled her aside, making sure none of the others saw or were even in the vicinity.

"I need you to do something for me," I told her in a quiet voice. "It's important."

Kayla looked back at me warily. She was slightly taller than me with mocha brown skin and dark, twinkling eyes. Her hair was the color of chocolate and curly, cut short so it wouldn't be a huge hassle in battle.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked carefully.

"If Prometheus doesn't keep to our agreement, if Dan is…dead," I started, pausing and swallowing hard, willing myself to force the words from my mouth. "I want you to kill me." I finally managed.

Kayla blinked and took a step back. Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to form words, but nothing coherent came out. She started shifting on her feet and looking around the penthouse suite.

"Why?" she finally asked. "And why me? We have other siblings who are-are probably more capable than I am. I can't—how can you ask me to do something like that?"

"I'm sorry, truly, that I'm putting this pressure on you, but I'm asking you because I _know_ you _are_ capable." I explained. "Out of all of our siblings, you're the strongest. If something goes wrong, you need to kill me.

"Kronos needs me, for some reason, and he will do anything to achieve that goal. But I want to make sure that Dan is safe and still alive before he can get to me or he'll have all the leverage, which I don't want."

Kayla opened her mouth, probably to object, but the words never came out. She shook her head and looked around the suite again.

Finally her dark eyes met mine, serious and piercing, exactly why I picked her to ask.

"Tori, I hope you realize what you're asking of me," she said in a low voice. "This is a very serious request."

"This is war," I reminded her, meeting her gaze. "I know what I'm doing. You don't have to do this for me if you don't want to, but I had to ask."

"No, I'll do it," Kayla said. "I just want to give you a chance to think this through a little more. If you change your mind before we leave, tell me."

I nodded. I didn't think I was going to, but she was right, this request was serious and dangerous. And I was putting a lot of pressure on her, not just for being able to kill one of her siblings, but also the aftermath that would come with it. After living with her for a several months and seeing her in battle, though, I knew she'd be able to do it.

"Try and get some rest while you still can," I told her. Kayla snorted and started to head off. "And, Kayla?" She stopped and turned to look at me over her shoulder. "Thank you."

She gave me a worried, concerned look, her chocolate brown eyebrows furrowing. Without a word she turned back around and went to find somewhere to crash. Or probably pace. I didn't think I would be sleeping either.

* * *

When the time finally came, we gathered in the living room, grim looks on all our faces, before heading to the elevators.

When we exited the building and entered the park, I glanced behind me and locked eyes with Kayla. She nodded once, gripping her bow tighter. I turned back to face front.

I went to the picnic bench that I'd first seen Prometheus sitting at when we arrived at the Heckscher playground. I sat on the edge of one of the benches, at the end of the table, facing outward so my legs wouldn't get tangled up in the bench if a fight broke out. I also had my weapons on me in case something went wrong. I was sure they were going be confiscated as soon as we made the exchange, but for now, they were keeping me somewhat calm.

Will took a seat on the opposite side of the table, mimicking how I was sitting. My other siblings milled around, too agitated to sit.

The wait was torturous. With every passing second my mind thought up of worse and worse things that Kronos could've had those _empousai_ do to Dan. My heart started pounding faster and harder behind my ribcage. I felt my ADHD kick in even though there was no present threat. My hands itched to pull my sword on something I couldn't even protect myself from physically or otherwise: my own thoughts.

"Hey," Will's voice broke through the roaring in my ears. I jerked and looked over at him. "He's going to be okay. Dan, I mean." He was looking at me, but I had a feeling he was saying it for all our sakes.

I took a deep breath. "I know, I just…don't trust titans…" I trailed off and stood up when I saw four figures in the distance. I walked around the table, my siblings right behind me, Will next to me.

My heart started pounding faster, but the urge to fight had vanished momentarily. One of the figures was obviously Prometheus. He stood above the other three and still wore his tuxedo, he also walked ahead of them. The other three were, I assumed, Dan and the two _empousai_ who'd been set to guard (and probably torture) him. They had him between them, holding him up with his arms around their shoulders.

My heart ached. I took a step toward the group, but Will grasped my arm, keeping me where I was standing. Probably smart of him, too. I didn't care what Prometheus would do to me, but I was ready to dust those two _empousai_ for daring to hurt my brother, for daring to even touch him.

Watching them come to us was just as excruciating as the wait. They were moving at a slow pace, most likely because of Dan's broken leg, and as I got closer I could see just how much damage he'd taken. Or rather sense it, being the daughter of the god of medicine. Though, it occurred to me I could only sense all injuries—visible or not—when it came to my own siblings. I wasn't too sure about others.

I felt the atmosphere change when the rest of my siblings sensed his injuries too. Will tensed beside me. I glanced over at him and wondered if I'd have to restrain him, or any of the others. But I knew how protective Will was, specifically, out of all of us. It became more and more prominent with each lost sibling.

Dan's skin was pale and he looked sickly. His breathing was labored because of the pain he was probably in, but also because he had broken ribs. There were bruises all over his body. His black eye looked worse in person and without his gag I could see that his lip had been busted open. There were small prickly, stinging sensations across his arms, shoulders and neck, but I couldn't tell what those were from. His broken leg was swollen and if we didn't treat it quickly he might lose it.

I cursed silently at myself for not saying half an hour. I should've been thinking about his injuries.

They finally came within ear shot, stopping several feet away from us.

"Sorry we're late," Prometheus said in that same cool tone he'd used when I first met him, which made me angry. He glanced behind him at the three before meeting my eyes. "We were…held up."

I growled and stepped toward him, my hands going to my sword, but Will grabbed my upper forearm with both hands.

"Tori," he warned in a low voice. Breathing heavily, I forced my body to step back and removed my hands from my sword. The others shifted restlessly behind me.

Prometheus stepped aside. "You're brother, as you last saw." On cue the _empousai_ threw him forward. On instinct he tried to catch himself which only jostled his hurt leg. With a cry of pain, he started falling.

Will and I rushed forward and caught him, carefully lowering him to the ground, making sure to keep away from his injured leg.

"Oh my gods," I whispered, tears filling me eyes as I saw his wounds and bruises up close. Now that I was right next to him I could see bite marks on his neck, shoulders, his arms, and I suddenly realized what the prickly sensations had been. My blood boiled and my sight tinged red.

Dan was speaking to me, but I could barely hear him over the roar of blood in my ears.

"Help me get him to his feet," I said to Will in a strained voice, it sounding muted and far away. Together we slowly worked him to his one good foot. I felt him tense every now and again, but my mind had gone into tunnel vision. All I could think about was getting him to safety as fast as possible. "I love you," I whispered to him quickly before gently pushed him closer to Will. "Take him," I instructed in a louder voice.

Austin came forward to help Will and me.

"Tori," Dan said raggedly as Austin and Will put Dan's arms around their shoulders. "Don't—"

"You don't get a choice here," I interrupted in a thick voice, more tears filling my eyes. I looked at Will and Austin. "Go. _Now_."

With one last look, Will and Austin started leading Dan back to our siblings. Half of them left the playground with Dan, half stayed, gripping their bows and looking like they desperately wanted to pull their arrows on the titan and his _empousai_. Kayla was among them.

I gave them all one last look before turning toward Prometheus.

"Lead the way," I said coldly. He glared down at me.

"First thing's first," he replied in the same cold tone. The she-demons came up to me, one of them grabbing my arms, digging her talons into my flesh, and holding them behind my back while the other removed my weapons, ripping my sword from my waist, making sure to get my dagger in its ankle sheath, and breaking the strap of my quiver. Thankfully they didn't break the string of my bow, but they still took that too.

When they'd confiscated all my weapons, the _empousa_ behind me let go and stepped back. The one standing in front of me, however, suddenly threw my weapons down and slapped me. I felt a small prick of pain blossom near the edge of my lip and I hit the ground.

I pushed myself up to a sitting position and wiped the blood from my lip, glaring up at the _empousa_ standing over me.

"That's for killing my sister," she hissed, her red eyes glowing and hair flaring.

I wiped the blood off on my jeans and looked up at her.

"Which one?" I asked, smirking.

With a snarl, she lunged at me. I turned away from her and my right side hit the ground hard as I felt her claws rake through my upper forearm on my left side. The pain was akin to what I felt when the hellhound had shredded my shoulder and arm, but a little less because she'd hit a smaller area.

It was so sudden I couldn't hold back the cry of pain. I thought for sure I was done for, which was kind of my plan, but no other attack came. Through the haze of pain I forced my eyes open and looked up. The _empousa_ was gone. In fact both of them were gone. I looked to my right and noticed the rest of my siblings who'd stayed had their bows draw, some with empty bows, others had already notched another arrow.

"You just love to cause trouble, don't you?" Prometheus regarded me frostily. I chuckled darkly and struggled to sit up, reaching up to grab my bleeding arm and stem some of the flow at least. The gashes were pretty deep and there were at least four of them, though, so I might bleed out before I made it to wherever Kronos was hanging out until nightfall.

"On your feet, Kronos is waiting," the titan said, bending down to pick up my weapons, though I wasn't sure why he'd need them. Maybe Kronos was going to give them to someone else in their army. I was too much in pain to be angry that someone would be using my weapons against my family and friends.

I struggled to my feet, not daring to look back, afraid I wouldn't be able to go forward if I did.

By the time we finally reached the Titan's HQ I was ready to collapse. Prometheus had done nothing to help with walking or healing my wounds, so I'd been bleeding the whole time. It was a slow and steady trickle, but I was still losing blood, and over a long period of time I was surprised I'd made it this far without completely bleeding out. I was certainly starting to feel it, though.

Things were hazy, but I could make out that the place wasn't the most glamorous place they could be hanging out. It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a forest and a singular, crumbling road with other rotting, unoccupied buildings and billboards that were peeling and faded. The warehouse we approached had a large fence—well the remains of large fence, anyway—surrounding the yard which contained all kinds of statues. I was too busy being in pain to make out what they were of.

There was a bright red sign hanging above the front doors of the building, but I didn't have the energy to make it out. The fact that it was in cursive wasn't making it any easier.

Half of the roof was currently lying on the floor and there was another sign, big and yellow stapled to the door. I didn't have the energy to read that one either.

I slogged through a maze of tents and campfires surrounding the warehouse, looking around at all the monsters, demigods, and even a few humans in battle armor. In the back of mind, behind the pain and exhaustion, I felt worry and concern for my friends and siblings. Kronos's army was vast and huge.

Just outside of the building was a purple-and-black banner flanked by two of Hyperboreans.

Prometheus pushed the doors open and stepped inside. I followed more slowly. I could feel my world tilting, my legs trembled with the effort to stay standing. Someone was speaking, but their words got lost somewhere along the way from whoever was speaking to my ears. I'd only made it a few steps in before my body decided it was done.

My knees buckled and I hit the floor. My world swam and the lights and colors started fading. Then something strange happened.

"Tori!" someone called frantically. Through my watery, blurry vision I swear I saw someone kneeling down in front of me, a hand outstretched.

I willed my own hand to move toward the one reaching for me. I couldn't get it off the ground, but I managed to push it toward the person in front of me.

"Luke," I whispered, because that's the voice I swear I heard when my name was called. I blinked and then they were gone, just as well, because my vision slowly faded before I was swept out to sea, leaving me wondering if I had hallucinated hearing Luke or if it had been real. That only left an ache in my chest that, even with all the healing in the world, I'd never be able to get rid of.

* * *

When I came to the first thing I registered was that I was bound and gagged, much like Dan had been. My arms were tied behind my back, but with cuffs that were made from leather and covered my whole lower forearm—from wrist to elbow. There was no chain in between, holding them together from what I could tell, only a very short, thick strap of leather. My feet were also bound, but much more loosely. The same leather cuffs were around my ankles, but much smaller. And the chain connecting them was at least two feet long.

A piece of duct tape covered my mouth.

The second thing I noticed was that my arm was no longer bleeding **.** Or even in pain. Upon closer inspection it was like I'd never even been wounded. No residual pain, not even a scar or trace I'd been wounded. The only thing that told me I hadn't imagined being attacked was the fact that my sleeve was shredded and torn.

Now, determining if it had been Luke I'd really heard before passing out was a whole other issue I didn't want to get into. Not yet, anyway.

I looked around where I was sitting. The statues that were scattered about in the large room caught my attention first. They were life-sized statues of terrified people, frozen in mid-scream, along with monsters and nature spirits. I had a feeling who had made them, but didn't want to think about it too much.

I was in the far corner, the doors we'd entered in the other far corner, diagonal from me. I had an _empousa_ standing in front of me, guarding me. To my left were a bunch of picnic tables that seemed to have been pushed aside to make room for Kronos and his guards, along with his council. A Lastrygonian giant was sitting at one of the tables near the edge, chowing down on French fries.

To my right, sitting between a soda dispenser and pretzel warmer was a gold throne. Sitting on the golden throne was Kronos, his scythe across his lap. My heart squeezed painfully in my chest. If it wasn't for the golden eyes, I would've thought it was Luke, because the titan was dressed in simple jeans and T-shirt with a moody expression on his face. And, I mean, it was Luke, but he wasn't the one in control right now.

I quickly looked away and focused on anything but that. I couldn't afford to show weakness in a place like this.

"Oh, look, awake just in time for dinner," a voice sounded in front of me. Another _empousa_ had showed up with a plate of mystery meat and a plastic fork sticking out of the mound in one hand, the other held a bottle of water.

I glared up at her as she dropped the plate and bottle in front of me, causing some of the meat spill onto the ground and bottled water fall into the pile.

The she-demon then came over and pulled me to my feet by grabbing one of my arms. The other _empousa_ undid my binds, but put them back on only my hands were in front of me now so I could use my hands.

"This might hurt just a tad," one of them said right before ripping off the piece of duct tape. I winced but gritted my teeth on a yelp. She pushed me back and pointed to the food.

"Eat," she ordered. I sat back down, but didn't make a move to pick up the fork or the bottle of water, despite how hungry I was. I also had a headache and my head felt a bit fuzzy, which probably meant I was dehydrated, too. Still, I decided I was going to refuse to eat, see how far I could push my luck here before Kronos got so angry he killed me.

I was actually surprised that he'd kept me alive. I thought for sure he wanted me to be able to kill me. I'd angered him enough already, I thought as soon as he could, he would've gotten rid of me.

When the _empousai_ realized I wasn't going to eat, one of them knelt down and pulled the bottle from the meat before grabbing the fork and scooping up the slop. She then grabbed my chin and tried to force the food into my mouth.

"I said _eat_ ," she hissed as she did this. The thing was she'd made the mistake of making my hands more accessible to me. I reached up and grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands away from my face, and jerked them down, throwing her off balance. She started falling toward me so I brought my head forward and slammed it into her nose. She cried out in pain and I took this moment to let go of her as she reeled back and brought my feet up, kicking her in the stomach, sending her tumbling back into the picnic tables.

I didn't think I'd hit her that hard, but she broke through the wood of the table easily, disappearing for a moment in rubble. She was out of the pile, in a crouch, fangs bared not a moment later. Her red eyes glowed and she snarled at me, her hair full on flame.

Before she could lunge at me, however, someone's voice interrupted us.

" _What_ ," he started in deadly calm voice, "is going on?"

I looked to my left. Kronos had left his throne and was now standing next to the other _empousa_ , looking between me and the crouching she-demon with cold, golden eyes. He gripped his scythe in one hand.

"She refuses to eat," the _empousa_ , still crouching, hissed, shifting slightly.

Kronos looked over at her. "Stand down."

The _empousa_ 's eyes went from me to her master.

"But, sir—" she started.

"Questioning an order?" Kronos interrupted, gripping his scythe even more, his golden eyes glowing. The _empousa_ instantly straightened up and took a step back, looking down at the ground.

"No, sir," she said quickly. It was odd to see the she-demon look afraid, because they never had before.

Kronos turned his golden eyes on me. I swallowed hard and tried not to shift uncomfortably underneath his gaze, but met his eyes evenly.

"Why do you insist on being so much trouble?" he growled.

"If I'm too much for you, you could always let me go. Or kill me." I quipped.

Kronos looked like he wanted to answer, but stopped himself, his jaw taught.

"There are ways to get you to eat," he threatened. And while I was definitely scared of finding out what they were, I wasn't going to let him intimidate me. I wasn't going to let him know he'd scared me. I was going to push him until he cracked.

So I steeled my nerves, glared up at him and narrowed my eyes. "I'd like to see you try."

He moved so quick I almost didn't catch what he was doing. If it hadn't been for my ADHD, I wouldn't have seen it all. The back of Kronos's hand came at me lightning quick and I instinctively flinched away, but he froze just before he actually hit me. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding and opened my eyes to see why he'd stopped.

He was still glaring down at me, his golden eyes swirling with uncontained rage and hatred. The knuckles on the hand that was gripping his scythe were white. But something seemed to be stopping him. The hand near my face shook like he was fighting against himself.

 _Or Luke was fighting against him,_ a voice in the back of my mind thought. I quickly tried to quench those flames of hope, not wanting to get my heart broken if that wasn't true. It was already hurting enough.

Either way, the titan of time seemed frozen in it for a long moment as he struggled with whatever was going on. It wasn't until the doors to the warehouse swung open and Ethan stepped through did Kronos finally move again.

His hand slowly lowered and he turned to face the one-eyed demigod who looked extremely nervous.

"Keep guard," Kronos ordered the two _empousai_. "I'll deal with her in a moment." He went back to his throne and took a seat, his scathing gaze now trained on Ethan. "Nakamura," he greeted. "What did you think of the diplomatic mission?"

Ethan paused and I saw the muscles in his neck go. "I'm sure Lord Prometheus would be better suited to speak—"

"But I asked _you_ ," Kronos interrupted, his voice dangerously low.

Ethan's eye darted around the room as he thought. "I…I don't think Jackson will surrender." He paused. "Ever."

"Anything else you wanted to tell me?" Kronos asked.

"N-no, sir," Ethan stuttered.

"You look nervous, Ethan," Kronos commented, sounding amused.

"No, sir," Ethan answered quickly. "It's just…I heard this was the lair of—"

"Medusa?" Kronos finished. The statues suddenly made much more sense to me and I shuddered. The titan lord continued, "Yes, quite true. Lovely place, eh? Unfortunately, Medusa hasn't re-formed since Jackson killed her, so you needn't worry about joining her collection. Besides, there are much more dangerous forces in this room." His voice became menacing.

Kronos looked over at the giant still chomping down on French fries. With a wave of his hand, the giant froze, a fry he'd just thrown up freezing in midair, feet away from his mouth.

"Why turn them to stone," Kronos asked in a soft voice that held contained power behind it. "When you can freeze time itself?" He turned his burning gaze back to Ethan. "Now, tell me one more thing," Kronos requested. Ethan swallowed hard again and shifted uncomfortably. "What happened last night on the Williamsburg Bridge?"

Ethan trembled under Kronos's hard stare; the light in the room reflected off the beads of sweat on his forehead. "I…I don't know, sir," his answered his voice on the brink of shaking.

"Yes, you do," Kronos amended in a warning tone, rising from his throne. "When you attacked Jackson, something happened. Something was not quite right. The girl, Annabeth, jumped in your way."

"She wanted to save him."

"But he is invulnerable," Kronos reminded, his voice deadly quiet. "You saw that yourself."

"I…can't explain it," Ethan said. "Maybe she forgot."

"She forgot," Kronos said, impatience clear in his voice. "Yes, that must've been it. _Oh dear, I forgot my friend is invulnerable and took a knife for him. Oops._ " Had this not been such a horrible situation, I might have laughed at a titan who'd been alive for millennia use sarcasm. "Tell me, Ethan, where were you aiming when you stabbed at Jackson?"

Ethan's brow furrowed as he went back to the battle. He mimed holding his sword, thrusting it forward. "I'm not sure, sir," he said, still on the bridge for a moment longer before he eyes focused back on Kronos. "It all happened so fast. I wasn't aiming for any spot in particular."

I couldn't see Kronos's expression, but he tapped the blade of his scythe, so I figured he wasn't pleased with this answer. "I see," he finally said in a tone that made chills run down my spine in waves. "If your memory improves, I will expect—"

Abruptly the titan flinched. I noticed the giant unfreeze, his French fry dropping into his mouth. Kronos fell back, sinking into his throne. My heart pounded in my chest, making my headache worse.

"My lord?" Ethan asked in a small voice, taking a few steps toward the titan's throne.

"I—" His voice was weak, but for that second, it was Luke's. I had to stop myself from calling out his name. The flame I'd tried to extinguish earlier roared to life, becoming a firestorm, sucking all the air from my lungs instantaneously.

So I hadn't hallucinated Luke calling my name before I'd passed out. Seeing me hurt to the point of death must've jolted him. It dawned on me, perhaps that was why Kronos hadn't hit me, because Luke would've either taken hold of his body again or had been the one stopping Kronos in the first place.

The moment passed and the titan took control once again. He raised his hand, flexing his fingers, like he was forcing them to do what _he_ wanted.

"It is nothing," Kronos said in his cutting voice. "A minor discomfort."

"He's still fighting you, isn't he?" Ethan asked bravely. "Luke—"

"Nonsense," Kronos snarled. "Repeat that lie, and I will cut out your tongue. The boy's soul has been crushed. I am simply adjusting to the limits of this form. It requires rest. It is annoying, but no more than a temporary inconvenience."

"As…as you say, my lord." Ethan agreed quickly.

"You!" Kronos turned his attention to a _dracaena_ wearing green armor and a matching crown, pointing his scythe at her. "Queen Sess, is it?"

"Yessssss, my lord," she hissed.

"Is our little surprise ready to be unleased?"

Queen Sess bared her fangs in a contorted, demonic smile. "Oh, yessss, my lord. Quite a lovely ssssurprissse."

"Excellent," Kronos said, with an approving nod. "Tell my brother Hyperion to move our main force south into Central Park. The half-bloods will be in such disarray they will not be able to defend themselves. Go now, Ethan. Work on improving your memory. We will talk again when we have taken Manhattan."

Ethan bowed and then scurried out.

No sooner had the doors closed did Kronos come back over to me. He smiled coldly at me, but didn't address me. Instead, he turned to the _empousai_ and told them something in very hushed tones. They both gave me smirks before heading out of the warehouse. Kronos gave me one last smug look before going back to his throne. A stone starting forming in the pit of my stomach, but I tried not to let it get to me. Whatever he was planning, I could handle.

My resolve wavered with every passing minute, though, as my mind speculated what Kronos could be possibly planning. It was starting to become evident that he couldn't hurt me without invoking Luke, so that meant whatever he might be planning would be done by someone else. It couldn't be torture, because even if someone else hurt me, if Kronos saw the state I was in, so would Luke.

So I wasn't really sure _what_ was in store for me. Which scared me more than knowing or even having guesses. I was completely and totally unprepared for whatever might be coming for me.

I don't know how long it was, but the _empousai_ finally returned. They came up to me and each grabbed one of my upper forearms, pulling me to my feet, before leading me out of the warehouse. I glanced over my shoulder as the doors closed to see that cruel smile on Luke's face. The cold stone in my stomach became heavier.

They led me through the maze of tents and campfires, to the outskirts of the army, nearer the woods. Night was falling, which meant the army would be off soon, so I wasn't sure where they were going to take me. Out to the woods, possible? Chain me to a tree? I wasn't sure why they thought that as cruel.

But as we got closer to our destination, I realized that the place we were heading wasn't a grove of trees. Statues of ten-foot-tall giants had been gathered into a large rectangle, made just so, so that if someone was thrown in, they wouldn't be able to get out. It was a prison, made from Medusa's statue collection.

I still wasn't sure how this could be such a horrible punishment, but maybe I was missing something. My stomach was in knots now and my heart was beating as fast as a humming bird's wings. My alarm bells were on overdrive, adrenaline coursing through my veins, ADHD in overdrive. I could feel a panic attack coming on, which was _not_ something I really needed on top of everything else.

As we neared the cage, three of the Lastrygonian giants moved aside one of the statues. We stopped at the opening, one of the she-demons taking off my restraints, from both my ankles and wrists before shoving me inside. I turned and was about to bolt, make an escape, because it had taken them a few seconds to move the statue out of place, it would probably take about the same amount of time to move it back into place.

Before I could even move, however, the hellhound appeared. It blended in with the oncoming shadow of night, but its glowing red eyes and bared fangs showed just fine in the dim light of the fading sun. I felt my heart skip a beat and stop before ramping it up. I instinctively reached for all my weapons, my bow and arrow, my sword, my dagger. When I found nothing, I slowly started backing further into the cage as the hellhound slowly advanced.

I could feel the panic rising within me, like when the water was rising in the car that one time Kronos had tried to kill me and convince Luke I'd abandoned him. No weapons to protect myself.

Now, maybe I could've handled being trapped in this cage with one of those demonic dogs—it wasn't going to hurt me because, again, if Kronos saw I was hurt, so would Luke. And Kronos was already having trouble controlling Luke's body, he didn't need to use up more energy when he could be using that energy to win this war. But then another hellhound came in, growling and baring its fangs, red eyes trained right on me.

And then another. And another. And another. They flowed in like high tide, only they never receded. The statue was moved back into place, leaving me in a sea of hellhounds, all their eyes on me.

Having spent so much time around them on the ship, I thought for sure by now I'd be okay with having to face them, or fight them. Especially now, because they weren't going to attack me. But I was dead wrong.

Without any weapons to be able to protect myself with, just in case, my brain panicked and went into overdrive. My whole body trembled. Slashes of blood red covered my vision. My mother's voice screaming for my father's help rang in my ears, hitting me full force.

I was suddenly thirteen again, helpless to save my mom as a hellhound ripped her open, killed her.

I fell to my knees, my heart beating wildly, painfully. I brought my hands up, clamping them to my ears, trying to drown out my mom's cries for help, her scream of pure agony when the hellhound found its mark.

Blood.

So…much…blood.

I curled in on myself, my whole body tense, reliving the night my mom died, over and over and over, on a constant, never-ending loop.

Paralyzed with fear, on the ground, surrounded by my worst fear, my worst nightmare, the monster under the bed.

"No, no, no," I sobbed in a whisper. "Make it stop. Please, make it stop." I sunk further down, sitting on my legs, resting my forehead on my knees, moving my arms up to cover my ears and knotting my hands in my hair, pulling at it painfully, thinking this would help the visions.

Tears streamed from my eyes as I tried to dispel the ever-growing fear and panic that never seemed to peak. My heart felt like it was going to give out at any moment, my body kept pumping adrenaline it no longer had. I felt like I was going to throw up, but I hadn't eaten anything. Besides my stomach was in such a tight knot I didn't think it would even be able to let anything through.

This torture, this _agony_ seemed to last forever. I was drowning in it.

Something touched my shoulder. I gasped and jerked away, scrambling to get away from any potential threat or danger. I had squeezed my eyes shut so tight for such a long time that I couldn't see for a good ten minutes. So I sat there, gasping and breathing hard, trying to get my vision to come back so I could see where and what the danger was.

When my vision finally cleared and the blurriness went away, I saw Kronos, standing a few feet away from me. He looked on with a cold, emotionless expression. There were two hellhounds at his side. Through the empty spaces in the prison he'd created with the statues I no longer saw tents and campfires. The sky was already dark.

Through my weary, tired haze, I almost called Kronos Luke, but I met his golden eyes and was reminded of the grim truth.

"Are you ready to obey me, now?" Kronos asked.

I felt a retort rise, but as if they knew what I was going to do the hellhounds sitting at Kronos's heels snarled and I was instantly reminded of the hours I'd just gone through, having to relive my mother's death over and over and over again. The mere thought of having to go through that again was enough to get my heart going. My hands started shaking. The retort died in my throat and I nodded, not trusting my voice.

Kronos didn't like that, though. It wasn't enough. He turned slightly, pointing to his ear. He didn't say anything, but I knew what he was asking.

I swallowed hard, my eyes darting between the two hellhounds before finally going back to Kronos.

"Yes, sir," I managed.

Kronos straightened up and regarded me with a smug look. "Very good." He gestured to someone off to my left before exiting. The two hellhounds stayed where they were sitting, glared at me with those red eyes. An _empousa_ came forward, then, and threw my weapons on my feet. I jumped and scrambled back slightly. The she-demon snorted and I looked up at her questioningly.

"Prepare for battle," she said with a sneer before walking off, exiting the make-shift prison. I stared down at my weapons for a long moment before carefully reaching out and grabbing them. I paused for a millisecond to make sure no one was going to yell at me before hesitantly getting to my feet and strapping my sword (in its scabbard) to my waist, and the dagger to my ankle. Lastly, I threw my new quiver of arrows over my shoulder, followed by my bow.

I started toward the exit, my two guard dogs following close behind. I tried not to panic and run. As I exited, Kronos approached me along with a golden chariot and at least a dozen Laistrygonian giants holding torches. Two Hyperborean giants carried his purple-and-black banners.

"Ready to go betray your friends?" he asked, smiling wickedly. My first instinct was to ask him what he meant—what was he going to do that would make it seem like I'd joined their side? My second instinct was to say no. I wanted to tell him I didn't really have a choice, but I couldn't even get myself to glower at him with the hellhounds behind me, reminding me what would happen if I did.

"Yes, sir," I said, instead.

Kronos's smile grew.

"Very good, Victoria," he mocked. "You're a fast learner. That might just keep you alive these next few hours."

That wasn't comforting in the slightest, but I stayed silent. I felt utterly defeated. Kronos had managed to break me. And he hadn't even touched me.

* * *

 **The title is the very first line of one of Lewis Caroll's poems that appears in** _**Alice's Adventures in Wonderland** _ **.**


	40. The Wonderful Things He Does

I rode next to the titan lord until we got to the back lines of his army. Night had fallen and the moon rose high in the sky.

And his army had basically taken Manhattan already. I could see the Empire State Building, looming before me. They were close. My heart squeezed painfully and I searched the front of the line. It was a decent distance away, which meant Kronos's army was vast. When I finally zeroed in on what I determined was the front line, what I saw broke my heart. Percy's regime had one line of defense left, holding back an entire army, just steps away from the doors to the Empire State Building, to Olympus.

Someone suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled down from the chariot.

"Well don't just stand there," the _empousa_ growled, pulling me through the army and toward the front. Bodies and empty piles of armor and broken weapons littered the ground. I tried not to focus on the faces of the bodies, afraid I'd see someone I knew.

Even though the chariot had been far, at her speed we were feet from the line of demigods, Hunters and nature spirits holding the defense line in no time at all. I almost thought I'd blacked out, we'd moved so fast.

"Fight!" The she-demon threw me forward, breaking me from my thoughts, and I stumbled, trying to regain my balance. I unsheathed my sword and turned to dust her—with so much going on, it wasn't like anyone would notice, or care—but she'd disappeared into the melee.

I looked over my shoulder as the army slowly advanced, pushing Percy's forces, step by step, back toward the entrance to Olympus. I glanced back to where I'd come from, no longer able to see Kronos's golden chariot. The monsters around me skirted around as they rushed to the front. I couldn't get myself to move from the spot I was currently standing at.

If he had wanted me so badly, why throw me into this chaos where I could easily escape and join my friends again? I didn't understand. I mean, sure, the threat of having to endure that torture with the hellhounds was hanging over me, but surely he couldn't monitor my movements in all of _this_.

Was he growing stronger? Were titans able to do that? If gods could, surely titans would be able to, right? Or maybe this was some kind of psychological warfare?

I couldn't think about this for very long, though, because through the din, I heard a voice call my name, piercing me right through the heart—a voice I didn't want to hear.

"Tori!" he called again. I turned, taking a step back, feeling weak.

"Dan," I whispered, though he obviously wouldn't be able to hear me through all the noise of battle. A little to my left, several yards away, holding the line, was Dan, battling with a sword. He kept glancing in my direction, but I couldn't think of what to do. My brain had seemed to freeze. It wasn't that he was hurt as much as he was when I last saw him, our siblings had done their best at healing him up, it was that he was here at all. I'd gotten him away from Kronos so that he'd be able to live his life, not get mixed up with demigod problems again.

I should've known, with someone like him, though, that he'd want to join the battle. This wasn't just Percy's fight, it was all of ours. For the sake of Olympus. For the sake of Western Civilization. For the sake of the world.

Dan wasn't great with a sword, but I watched as he dusted a _dracaena_ , then a hellhound, then a telekhine. Another telekhine took the last one's place and then I saw Dan falter. I suddenly started noticing everything else, too. He looked exhausted, probably from battling monsters all through the night. He looked sick and extremely pale. And even though our siblings had healed him, I could see that he was putting a lot of his weight on his left leg, which meant his right leg, the one that that _empousa_ had broken, wasn't completely healed. Now that I was focusing on it, I could sense it definitely hadn't healed properly. He shouldn't have even been down here fighting.

I felt a jolt go through me and without conscious command, I started moving toward him. He'd been too caught up dusting monsters to call for me again, or really focus on me for that matter, but I could tell he was still trying to get to me, stepping toward his enemy a lot.

I tried to push through the horde of monsters, forgetting I had a sword, but when I felt its weight in my hand, I quickly lifted it and started slashing and hacking my way toward Dan. My stomach was in a knot, dread filling every pour of my body. Something bad was going to happen. I had to stop it, prevent it!

I got to the last few monsters, stopping me from getting to Dan. A Hunter and nature spirit were on either side of him, keeping other monsters from getting through. Dan stepped in again, but the telekhine caught his sword's hilt and disarmed him. Without even hesitating, the dog-demon brought the blade forward. I saw the fear and sadness flash in his eyes.

With a battle cry, I sliced through the last of the monsters blocking my path and shoved Dan out of the way, turning toward the telekhine just as his sword got to me. It easily slid through my chest. The pain was surprisingly mild compared to what I thought I was going to feel, compared to what I'd felt before.

The noise of battle dimmed around me. Blackness threatened to take over my vision as I stumbled back and the telekhine pulled his sword from my chest. I saw the blood spurt out, felt it running down my stomach and back, soaking into my shirt. My knees buckled and I stumble back more, sitting down hard before slowly lowering myself to the ground, trying to take a full breath in. A blinding light filled my vision for a moment before I saw the darkened sky again. My vision was hazy and the dark edges were slowly, steadily closing in.

My heart stuttered as I lay there gasping. I blinked and suddenly I saw…Luke. He was kneeling over me, scythe in hand, but his eyes were blue. It was reminiscent of the very first time I'd ever looked into those beautiful eyes. I tried to say his name, but the words got caught in my throat. I blinked again and Kronos was back. His face was stony, his golden eyes blazing, as he lifted his free hand.

I couldn't see what he was doing, but I felt pressure on my chest. More golden light filled my vision and suddenly I could breathe normally again. What little pain I'd been feeling vanished. The sounds of battle returned around me and my vision cleared. Kronos stood, but I continued to lay there, trying to make sense of everything that'd just happened.

Before I could even do that, though, a hunting horn sliced through the roar. A symphony of horns answered from what sounded like everywhere, as the sound echoed off the skyscrapers. They didn't stop, they just kept growing louder and louder. Kronos's warriors looked around, looking confused, so I figured they weren't any of his.

I waited trying to determine what was going on, too weak to stand and look to see what was coming. I heard the cries of monsters before Kronos was gone. Someone was pulling me to my feet and toward the Empire State Building just as a stampede of monsters rushed past where I'd just been laying. Another symphony of horns cut through the monsters' cries and I watched in amazement as the air shimmered before an entire cavalry of centaurs appeared, driving the monsters back.

The someone who'd pulled me to my feet started pulling me back more, back into the lobby of the Empire State Building. I wanted to object, I wanted to see the centaurs, but was still too confused and weak to object.

Dan turned me to face him, gripping my upper forearms. His lips were moving rapidly, but I wasn't hearing anything of what he was saying. I felt a numbness creeping over me as my brain tried to untangle my thoughts, everything that'd happened from the moment I'd been stabbed.

I'd seen Luke. That had been odd. Had I been hallucinating? Those blue eyes…full of pain and worry. He'd been holding Kronos's scythe, though. Why would my hallucination of him be holding Kronos's weapon? There was a possibility it _hadn't_ been a hallucination. I'd seen it twice now. I'd been injured the first time, and then when Kronos was asking Ethan about his meeting with Percy….

Twice now, Luke had taken his body back when I had been in peril. _That's_ why Kronos hadn't killed me as soon as I'd arrived at his base. If I died, Luke would overpower him. My hope that Luke would be able to hold onto his body long enough to get rid of Kronos was a very real, very plausible possibility now.

I focused back on my brother who was now just staring at me worriedly. The numbness disappeared, feeling piercing me straight to the core, hot and fast, evaporating the numbness at light speed.

I pushed away from Dan, glaring at him.

"What are you doing?" I demanded. "Gods, if you weren't hurt, I'd kill you!" I restrained myself from shoving him and turned away instead. "I didn't get you away from Kronos to have you end up in a situation where you might die again!" I turned back to Dan, who was looking at me with a dry expression. "Oh, you are so _frustrating_ sometimes!"

"You're one to talk," he muttered. "I guess it runs in the family."

I pointed to his leg. "You are clearly not fully healed. I can't believe you'd go out and fight like that!" Dan opened his mouth to respond to my comment, but saw something over my shoulder and stopped. I quickly turned and looked out through the doors' glass. Our siblings had shouldered their bows and were now treating the wounded, ordering the non-injured campers to help with moving and lifting.

I looked back at Dan and sighed. "We should go help them," I said. Dan nodded in agreement. And even though he walked with a severe limp, I kept my mouth closed for now and followed him outside.

We worked quickly with the other campers, getting the wounded into the lobby of the Empire State Building and treating them there. It was always so hard for me, because I wanted to help, but without being able to heal magically, I wasn't very useful. I mean, I could give them nectar and ambrosia and patch up the wounds that didn't heal when they'd ingested more than enough, but I felt like I wasn't really helping.

I think the only way I'd actually be able to heal magically was if I forgave Apollo, but that hatred was deep-seated, deep-rooted and had been growing over the past eight years, it wasn't going anywhere. On some level I was angry at myself that I couldn't let this go, on the other hand, how could I? My mom had _died_ , screaming his name, begging for help.

So I resigned to gathering supplies, the food of the gods, and bandaging people up. The next few hours passed by in a blur. Night hadn't fallen, but suddenly the city shook with the roar of an ancient monster awakening.

Percy called in everyone who could still walk and briefed us about what was going on. The army wasn't waiting until night, they were coming now, and with some kind of _surprise_ whose roar could shake an entire city.

There was a flurry of commotion as the Apollo cabin scrounged for arrows alongside the Hunters, but also moved the wounded up to Olympus. With the doorman having disappeared from his post, this made our job easier. Still, we wanted to be prepared for battle, but try and get the wounded away from immediate danger. The others were moving sleeping mortals and cars out of the road on Fifth Avenue, too, which slowed down our preparation time.

I managed to convince Dan to stay on Olympus and watch everyone, especially the ones in critical condition, what with his leg and all. He wasn't going to be able to fight standing on it, lest he make it worse. I couldn't believe he'd been standing on it all if it hadn't even been all the way healed, but there wasn't any time to scold him about that. Kronos's army was coming.

My siblings and I were just exiting the building when a shadow blotted out the sun. I looked to see what was coming. Chills washed over me, my stomach dropping when I saw the creature slithering down the side of a skyscraper. It opened its mouth, showing a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth before letting out a roar that shattered most of the windows in the vicinity. Glass rained down onto the pavement.

The red-headed mortal girl, Rachel, pushed past the Apollo cabin and into the building. I didn't have time to wonder what she was doing here, or how she even got through the barrier around the city. My focus was on the drakon. It was bigger than a dragon (at least two hundred feet long), and much more snake-like, with no wings. Its scales were harder than titanium, which would make it hard to kill, and its eyes could paralyze you out of sheer fear.

On Fifth Avenue, Kronos's army marched on, with nothing in their way to stop them. Chiron galloped among the remaining centaurs' ranks, shouting encouragement—something about standing strong and root beer—but their horse half's shifted their hooves and swished their tails nervously. Not that I didn't blame them.

" _I'll take the drakon!_ " Percy yelled. "Everyone else, hold the line against the army!"

The Apollo cabin and other demigods that could still fight went to join the centaurs, Hunter and nature spirits that were left. My stomach twisted into a knot, but I tried to focus on the advancing army, on protecting my friends and family, protecting Dan.

I was exhausted and mentally worn, but I fought hard against any monster that came my way, dusting them as they came at me, more simply replacing where the previous one had been. It was immensely frustrating, but it wasn't like I could do much about it. Besides, this didn't even last very long. At one point during the battle, Thalia appeared next to me, battling a _dracaena_ and telkhine with her hunting knives. I was engaging with an _empousa_.

"You need to get the wounded," Thalia grunted, swinging at the _dracaena_ who burst into dust.

"What?" I asked, not sure I heard her right as I ducked and rolled as the _empousa_ lunged at me. I quickly stood and swung my sword at her, slicing her in half. Breathing hard, I looked over at Thalia, who'd taken care of the telkhine.

"The wounded," she repeated. "You need to get them inside. We can hold the line."

I was about to answer her when more monsters attacked us. We quickly took care of them and turned toward each other again.

"Are you sure? It's not that I don't think you're capable, but there's barely any of us left." I told her.

"I'm sure," Thalia said, pain flashing in her electric blue eyes. "We need to get them away from this." I held her eyes for a moment before sheathing my sword, raising my hand into the air and using the other to whistle, calling my siblings to me.

As they gathered around me, Thalia disappeared back into the ranks of our forces. I turned my attention to my cabin and told them what Thalia wanted us to do. They were just as reluctant as I was, but agreed that we needed to get the wounded to safety. I couldn't look to see how Percy was dealing with the drakon, I didn't _want_ to, because I was too busy moving bodies into the lobby.

Once we'd moved all the wounded we could see, we got to work, treating their wounds as best we could. Some had already passed, some were just barely hanging on by a threat. Those people, we sent up to Olympus.

At one point I thought I heard Clarisse (which was surprising; _now_ the Ares cabin had decided to finally join us?) screaming outside, but I had to concentrate on treating our injured. I couldn't go outside to see how things were going. Good, hopefully, and considering that Kronos's army hadn't stormed in, I was pretty sure they were holding the line okay. How long that would last, I wasn't sure, but I was keeping an ear and eye on the door just in case.

When some other campers and Hunters started coming through with more wounded, I figured we'd managed to hold them off again. When they came through the doors though, I could hear the sound of horrible scraping. I had to wonder what it was, but, again, I had a job to do. If I couldn't heal with hymns, as the very least, I could do everything else to the best my ability, which also meant not getting distracted, as much as my ADHD brain kept wandering off.

We brought the badly wounded ones up to Olympus. The ones with minor cuts and scrapes stayed in the lobby. One of my siblings, Claude, stayed down there to treat them, while the rest of us stayed on Olympus to help Dan heal and take care of the severely injured ones.

What wasn't helping was the fact that for one, every person I treated gave me a strange look, hesitant and kind of scared, even. I couldn't fathom what all that was about. Maybe they didn't trust me to be treating them, thinking that I was still a traitor, but those looks usually consisted of anger and cold eyes, glares. The looks they were giving me weren't angry or cold, they were nervous and tentative.

For two, I was hearing whispers about someone dying horribly. Some kind of trick, poison to the face. But I didn't hear much else because then I was up on Olympus, running around the field hospitals in the parks with my siblings and a group of naiads and dryads. The rest of place was eerie, with no fires burning in the braziers. All the windows were dark. No one walked the streets. The doors were barred.

When Alex passed, we threw the golden burial shroud of Apollo over him and moved on. We had to. There were too many others that needed our help. But just as all the other deaths had hit me, Alex's was just as painful, leaving another mark, another fresh wound. My heart felt heavy with their names, guilt writhing in my brain, making it hard to concentrate.

As we continued to treat the injured, the looks they were giving me was starting to really get to me. They kept nagging at me, eating at me every single time I tried to smile at them encouragingly or spoke to them softly, like Will did, and they averted their gaze, mumbling their thanks or not speaking at all. Finally, I just couldn't take it anymore. After I was done bandaging up someone's leg, I went to look for Dan. He was sitting, finishing stitching someone's cut on their side.

"Hey, Dan, could I maybe talk to you for a minute," I asked quietly, not looking at the demigod lying in the stretcher, afraid they'd give me "the look" too. "Um, privately?" I tacked on.

"Yeah, sure," he said easily. "Just let me put a bandage over this." I stepped back and waited as patiently as I could, tapping my foot, drumming my fingers, playing with the hilt of my sword (which I'd retrieved at some point after the centaurs had shown up, but before the drakon had). Dan stood carefully and started toward me. I was instantly at his side, helping support him, so he wouldn't put weight on his right leg.

"What did you want to talk about?" Dan asked in a tight voice once we were out of earshot.

I scoffed. "You're sitting down before we have this conversation." I made my way through the stretchers, as our siblings and nature spirits ran past us. I found a bench out of the way and in a slightly secluded area. I helped Dan sit before sitting next to him, but angling myself so that I could look at him.

"Okay, go," Dan said, though he looked paler and a little green. I couldn't tell if it was because he'd done so much healing or if he leg was giving him grief. He should really cast his leg and stop using it. "Tori," Dan called, bringing my attention back to him. His eyes were worried.

I swallowed hard and looked away. "Everyone keeps giving me these strange looks," I told him quietly. "Like they're…scared of me. I don't understand why—" I broke off, having turned to face Dan again. The same look that'd been on the people I treated was on his face currently. "You're not…you're not scared of me, are you? You know I'd _never_ hurt you—"

"No, no, no," Dan objected quickly, his expression changing. "It's not that. It's just…" He trailed off and let out a frustrated sigh, looking away. I could see him trying to figure out how to tell me whatever he wanted to tell me. In this silence, it was then I realized that this had been after I'd come back from being held hostage.

"Does it have something to do with…Kronos?" I asked carefully.

Dan looked back at me with a guarded expression. "I guess you were too out of it to know what happened."

"Getting stabbed in the chest will do that to you," I quipped.

Dan sighed and rolled his eyes before getting serious again. His eyebrows furrowed. "It was kind of a blur for me, too, but…" His face cleared and shook his head. "After you were stabbed, Kronos—" He broke off, his eyebrows furrowing again and dropped his gaze. I almost yelled at him. What had happened? "No…" Dan slowly lifted his gaze. "Luke. Luke screamed in rage. He screamed, 'No one harms her,' and let out blast of pure energy, of _Kronos's_ power or something. It stole my breath and blinded me for a few seconds. I think both sides froze in either shock or fear. The next thing I knew he'd cut through the monster that'd stabbed you before kneeling down next to you. Then I guess…Kronos came back and, well—"

"Healed me," I murmured, remembering that part. I stared off at all the movement of the field hospital as I thought about this. A blast of energy? Was that what that bright light had been? And Luke? Luke had done that using Kronos's powers? He'd stopped _both_ armies? Was that even possible? All because I'd been mortally wounded.

And why the looks? Because they were realizing that I was important to Luke? Or maybe they'd thought that had all been Kronos. But just because I was important to Kronos didn't mean they should be scared of me, should it? It wasn't like I was going to do anything to them. Maybe they thought my being here meant I was acting as some kind of spy for him. Maybe they thought because he'd saved my life I felt I owed him and was now doing his bidding.

But that wasn't the case at all. I didn't owe Kronos anything. He'd saved my life—twice now; boy was that a dizzying thought—of his own free will. Sure Luke had asked him to, but he didn't have to if he really didn't want to. The thought of losing this war, of not being able to destroy the gods scared him so much, he'd saved me. That was the only reason.

"You okay?" Dan asked breaking me from my thoughts.

I blinked and looked at him. "Uh, yeah…yeah, I think I'll be fine. Just…just a lot to process." I stood and held out a hand. "Come on, we should get back."

I wish I could've gotten a break from shock and stress. Treating injured people was still stressful, but what Dan had told me was almost too much. My brain was working overtime trying to figure everything out. Trying to control my guilt, hold my anguish, keep from crying, thinking about how Luke might still be in there, making sure Dan was safe, and now, added on top of all that, the fact that Luke had frozen two armies, warring with a titan in his body, to get to me.

I should've known I wasn't so lucky.

As I was helping Dan sit down next to another stretcher to check up on one of our campers Annabeth's voice cut through the noise, hitting me directly. I flinched and turned to face her as she stalked up to me. Percy and Grover were behind her. They all looked war-torn, tired, beaten, and like they'd possibly been crying….

"Annabeth," Percy called, but the daughter of Athena ignored him, keeping her stormy grey eyes trained on me. My hand twitched and I took a step back. My heart rose into my throat as my alarm bells started going off.

Her voice wasn't its usual strong, loud, and in-your-face. It was more fragile, like she was just barely holding it together. "Silena's dead," she told me, stopping a few feet from me.

I blinked as my brain tried to process this on top of everything else. I took a weak step back, my breath catching.

"What?" I managed.

"I'm surprised you didn't hear," Annabeth said.

"And, what?" I choked, tears forming in my eyes, my hands fisting at my side. "You thought it your duty to come tell me the horrible news?"

Annabeth eyed my fisted hands before meeting my eyes again. They had become far too calculating and keen, like she was trying to work something out. "She was the spy."

"I don't know what you expect me to say," I told her. "I've been telling you for months now that I wasn't the spy anymore and that I didn't know who the new spy was."

"You don't seem surprised," Annabeth noted. I opened my mouth to answer just as Percy stepped forward to grab Annabeth's arm, opening his mouth to say something, too. But suddenly he stopped. He closed his mouth, his eyebrows coming together. Annabeth who'd turn to chew him out paused, too. Her eyes flickered from me to him. "Percy?" She asked uncertainly.

Percy let go of her arm and stepped away, his green eyes far away as he worked something out. I saw it all click into place and then his green eyes were on me, blazing like they had the time he thought I was going to leave him to die next to that river in the woods of Camp Half-Blood.

I took a step back, my chest tightening.

"You knew," he said, deadly quiet. The calm before the storm. His demeanor reminded me so much of the ocean, it was kind of terrifying. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, I wasn't really sure what, but Percy stepped toward me and repeated, " _You knew_."

Behind me, I heard Dan struggling to get to his feet. "Tori, what's he talking about?"

Dread started to seep into me as I figured out what he was talking about. What he'd been trying to work out ever since Beckendorf's death, what he'd been trying to work out whenever the spy was brought up.

Around us, others had stopped, sensing the tension. I felt their eyes on our group, but I kept my eyes on Percy—his movements.

The son of Poseidon took another step toward me. "You said on the ship you _knew_ Kronos would know you were coming," he said in a strained, quiet voice. "But he didn't know about your little trick. There's only _one_ way that could've been possible: you _knew_."

"Percy, what—" Annabeth started.

"The spy," Percy answered, keeping his eyes on me.

Annabeth's eyes snapped to me. I saw her take a deep breath and tense right before she lunged at me. Prepared for this, I held up my arms protectively in front of me, shoving her back when we collided and unsheathing my sword. My sword's point met Percy's throat, though, for he'd stepped in front her. Annabeth pulled her dagger and tried to push past him, but he stood firm. To my surprise, this seemed to stop her attacks for the time being.

I felt Dan's hand grab my sword hand, trying to push it down.

"Tori," Dan said carefully. I ignored him and pulled my hand away from his, keeping my sword up.

"You knew and you didn't tell us! You _lied_ to us," Annabeth said from behind Percy, gripping her dagger. "All those deaths—you could've prevented them! Castor! Lee—!"

"Clara, Thomas, Aaron, Melody, Alex! Beckendorf! Michael!" I finished for her, more tears welling up in my eyes and spilling over. "You _don't_ have to remind me." I blinked and more tears streamed down my face. I gripped the hilt of my sword, not moving it an inch. " _I know_. And we were going to tell you. Silena came to me when I came back and I convinced her to tell you guys. But Kronos found out and threatened to kill her dad. So I swore on the Styx that I wouldn't reveal her secret, lest her dad be killed.

"You think that just because I love someone who made all the wrong choices that I agree with them. But the _truth_ is the fact that I can't even face myself in the mirror without seeing a monster, straight from the deepest, darkest pits of Tartarus. How many times that I wish Kronos had succeeded in killing me so Luke could've turned his back and finished this war before it had even started.

"You want me to the Wizard of Oz? You want a brain? Heart? Courage? Take mine! Take everything I have left because that's what I would give to get our friends, my brothers and sisters, back!" Breathing hard, slowly, I lowered my sword before sheathing it. I wiped away my tears.

I waited for someone to say something, anyone. It didn't even have to be Percy or Annabeth. Everyone else had stopped what they were doing and had listened. It could've been anyone.

Grover cleared his throat, tapping Percy on the shoulder.

Slowly, Percy's eyes went from me to his friend.

"Um, we-we need to get to the throne room, remember?" Grover reminded him in a quiet voice.

Percy blinked and turned to face his friend fully.

"You're right, we…we should do that," he said softly. "Come on, Annabeth." Annabeth sheathed her dagger and turned, finally taking those grey eyes off of me and started off without another word. Percy gave me another glance before following Annabeth, Grover beside him. The worst part about their stares was I couldn't decipher what they thought about me anymore. Annabeth hadn't been glaring at me any longer, but I didn't know what she was feeling. Same with Percy.

I felt a warm hand squeeze my shoulder and turned to look at Dan.

"If it makes you feel any better," he said quietly. "I don't blame you. For any of it."

Unexpected tears flooded my eyes, and I bit my lip, not wanting to start crying again. Only, a whistle sounded from somewhere in the park—an agreement with Dan's statement—followed by more whistles from my siblings. Knowing that my siblings still didn't blame me, after losing so many of our own, was enough to get me sobbing.

Dan pulled me into him, rubbing my back comfortingly.

"You-you should be…be sitting," I managed through sobs and sniffles.

"I'm fine," Dan responded. I didn't object.

* * *

**Not much to say by way of notes other than I hope her Wizard of Oz comment didn't too out of place. I was reading over it and realized it didn't flow as much as I thought it did originally, but couldn't really think of a better way to integrate it and I really wanted to keep it in, so, yeah. Oh, and I guess I should credit** _**Breaking Dawn** _ **(yes, that** _**Breaking Dawn** _ **) for giving me the Wizard of Oz idea. It's the title of one of Jake's chapters that just really stuck with me when I was writing this story. Gotta give credit where it's due.**

**Also, on a related note, if you think about the things he offers, I feel like it could apply to Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. Not in that they need what the three in _ **The Wizard of Oz**_ **were looking for, but their characters encompass the traits. Like, Percy is heart. Annabeth is brains. And Grover is courage. I don't know, just a thought that occurred to me while writing this.****


	41. Let them Bleed

I managed to get over my crying spell quickly, for the sake of the wounded. I didn't know what everyone else thought of me, but the fact that at least my siblings were by me, made me feel better. It didn't get rid of the guilt I felt for all of this, especially the ones who had died, but it eased a bit of the ache.

It wasn't very long before one of the Hunters came up, though, to call the rest of us that were able to still fight down to try for a last ditch effort to defend the doors. With the help of the nature spirits, we'd managed to get nearly everyone in fighting condition, but who knew how long they'd last if we were the last few standing against an entire army that never seem to end.

Dan had even had his leg healed fully. I could tell it was still bothering him, but any wound would do that to you. And seeing as it had been a pretty bad one, it was probably something that would bother him for the rest of his life. I didn't want him to go down there with us, but I didn't know where else he _could_ go. If Kronos got past our last defenses and Dan was still up here—I didn't even want to think about it.

If he was down there, and I stayed close to him, no one would touch him.

So we gathered our weapons and rushed down to help. The minor godlings and nature spirits stayed on the mountain to defend and protect as best they could if Kronos did get to the doors.

When we finally arrived on the ground floor and exited the building, my heart sunk. There were only a few of us left, bravely fighting off Kronos's army. They had boxed us in, and were probably just humoring us, still fighting. They'd basically won. Still, we came out of the doors and fought with our best efforts.

As I suspected, no monster wanted to go near me. Word spread fast among their ranks and the power that Kronos—Luke—whoever, displayed scared them more than being sent back to Tartarus. I didn't engage, because I was saving my energy (for what, I wasn't really sure), but I stayed near Dan and if a monster approached him while his back was turned, I dusted them.

But this didn't last long, either. Soon enough, the wounded lay in the streets. The only ones left standing were me, Dan, and Chiron. Kronos's army stopped about twenty feet away from the doors, surrounding I assumed the whole building. I shifted nervously, gripping my sword, eyes darting around at the enemy. Why weren't they moving forward?

It wasn't until the ranks in front of the doors to the Empire State Building started stirring did I realize they had been waiting.

Kronos's vanguard walked through, Kronos in the lead, obviously. Ethan was on his left side, the _dracaena_ queen on his right. Two Hyperboreans flanked the three. Chiron greeted them, notching an arrow and aiming it straight at Kronos's head.

I started forward, ready to stand beside my mentor, but Dan followed and I wasn't going to allow that. Even with the monsters' aversion to me, I didn't want him to get in the path of Kronos's wrath. Maybe Kronos would spare him because he knew if Dan died, I would too, but I wasn't about to take an unnecessary risk.

I stopped abruptly and turned my head slightly, but didn't look at him, keeping my eye on the standoff between Chiron and Kronos.

"No, go pull the wounded out of the way, make sure they're okay," I told him in a low voice.

I could feel his incredulous eyes bore into my cheek.

" _Tori_ —" he tried to object. I fully turned my head and silenced him with a glare. He glared right back. "Now isn't exactly the time to argue about this. I'm helping. End of conversation."

"I don't want you to get hurt," I pleaded, dropping my glare and turning to face him. "You have your whole life ahead of you. If that was taken away from you, I would never be able to forgive myself."

Dan's grip tightened on the hilt of his sword. "You're my sister, I'm staying by your side. We're supposed to stick together. Protect each other."

I looked up at him helplessly, annoyed and frustrated and angry, but he was right. We didn't have time to argue about this. We were in the middle of a war, a war we might just end up losing.

Tears filling my eyes, I painfully swallowed my objections and turned around again, about walk up next to Chiron, only the titan lord's golden eyes flickered over to me. They glowed brighter for a moment and I felt my body freeze. I tested to see if he'd done what I thought he'd done and cursed silently when I couldn't move. I assumed Dan probably couldn't either.

He _was_ growing stronger. That wasn't a good sign.

Kronos turned his attention back to Chiron just as I heard someone call his name in a small voice. If my ears weren't tricking me, it was Annabeth. I couldn't check though, because I was still kind of frozen in time.

"Step aside, little son," Kronos said, breaking the tension that'd been building ever since he'd come to the front.

"I'm afraid not," Chiron replied in a steely voice, one that'd I'd only heard once or twice. He only used it when he was _really_ angry, seeing as he was 3 centuries old, he didn't anger easily.

I saw the _dracaena_ queen beside Kronos tense just as Annabeth called out, "Chiron! Look out!"

The queen snake-woman lunged at Chiron, apparently not patient enough to wait, but Chiron was quicker. He easily adjusted his aim and let his arrow fly through an opening in her helm. She disintegrated on the spot, her armor clattering to the ground. Kronos didn't even flinch.

Chiron went to grab another arrow, but his quiver was empty, so he unsheathed his sword. I could see how uncomfortable it was in his hand, though. There was a reason he taught the master's archery class at camp, he'd always been better with a bow and arrow.

Kronos chuckled, amused, and took a step forward. Chiron's horse-half shifted nervously, his tail flickering back-and-forth, but Chiron managed to hold his ground.

"You're a teacher," Kronos spat. "Not a hero."

"Luke was a hero," Chiron responded bravely. "He was a good one, until _you_ corrupted him." I had to wonder if he believed it or was just saying it. Of course, with Chiron, he probably really did mean it. It was just strange to have someone else still believe in Luke, even after everything he'd done that led up to this point…and all for me.

" _Fool!_ " Kronos snapped, his voice shaking the very ground beneath my feet. "You filled his head with empty promises. You said the gods cared about me!"

I jolted and my heart jerked painfully when I heard "me." Luke was still fighting. I just had to reach him.

Chiron didn't fail to notice this either. "Me," he said. "You said _me_."

Kronos blinked and looked confused for a moment. Chiron capitalized on this by feinting, quickly followed by a strike to the face. But this was Kronos, a titan, in Luke's body. He could access all of Luke's skill.

Kronos easily knocked Chiron's blade away and barked, " _Back!_ "

A stunning white light exploded between Kronos and Chiron, who was thrown into the side of the building with so much force that the wall crumbled like a stack of kids' blocks, creating a rubble tomb. My body automatically moved toward the pile, wanting to help Chiron, and I realized that Kronos's spell was broken.

I froze and looked over at Kronos who was too busy admiring his work to pay attention to much else. Ugly laughter rippled through Kronos's army as Annabeth screamed and she, Percy, Thalia, and Grover ran over to the pile. I quickly glanced at Kronos again before sheathing my sword and making my way to the doors. I slipped inside, but someone's hand caught my wrist before I could make it to the elevators.

"What do you think you're doing?" Dan asked.

I turned to face him, my annoyance growing. But I was only annoyed because I cared about what happened to him. "I have to get to Luke. Stay down here and help however you can. I have to do this alone."

"No you don't—!"

I yanked my wrist out of his grip. "Yes! I do! I'm the reason this is even happening! So I should be the one to stop it, end it. Besides, I think I'll have a better chance getting to Luke if it's just me and him."

"Tori—"

"I'm not saying you can't help. I'm saying you can't help _me_. I'll be okay." I wasn't so sure about that last part, but I met my brother's eyes and willed myself to look more confident than I felt.

Finally Dan stepped back.

"Be careful," he said.

I nodded. "Of course." I paused and almost turned to leave. "I love you."

Dan's eyes tightened. "I love you, too."

I backed away from Dan a few steps before spinning and jobbing to the elevator. I didn't think I'd be able to do anything down here, but maybe if I could confront Kronos alone, or close to it, I'd be able to get through to Luke. It was a slim chance, but I had to try something. We were coming close to the end, Kronos was almost to the throne room. If he managed to destroy the gods' seats of power, it would be all over.

As soon as the doors opened, I sprinted up the floating stone steps. I flashed back to the time when I'd first visited, afraid to even step out onto them, Luke offering his hand…

I shook those memories off as I reached the mountain. I walked a few feet up the path before turning and unsheathing my sword again. I kept my eyes on the elevator doors and waited.

Surprisingly, out of all the waiting I'd done, this wait wasn't agonizing at all. I stood at the base of the mountain, right in front of the steps, and just watched the doors. Though my ADHD was in hyper-drive, my body wasn't itching to move around, I didn't feel the need to drum my fingers against my leg, my eyes weren't darting around. An eerie calm had settled over me.

Finally, the doors slid open. Kronos stepped out, his eyes meeting mine almost instantly. He froze momentarily before exiting the elevator and leisurely making his way up the steps. Ethan followed closely behind, but I kept my attention focused on the titan. He didn't pause when he reached the mountain, coming straight up to me until we were mere inches apart.

"Victoria," he greeted coldly. There was no cruel, taunting smile this time. Only his golden eyes locked on mine, swirling with hatred and anger. He gripped his scythe.

I steeled my nerves, gripping the hilt of my sword, and swallowed hard. "Luke," I said, trying to see past the gold.

"What is it you think you're doing?" Kronos hissed, annoyance flashing in those golden depths. "The boy's soul has been crushed—"

In spite of the situation, I smirked. "You keep telling yourself that until you believe it, but I know he's still in there." I interrupted him. "Luke, I know you're in there. Keep fighting."

"I don't have time for this," Kronos snarled, trying to step past me, only I followed and blocked his path.

"Luke, listen to me, I know you can overpower him," I said.

"Get out of my way—" Kronos warned in a dark tone.

"Or you'll what?" I snapped. "Kill me?"

Kronos glowered at me, his eyes glowing, but he made no motion to indicate he was going to use his scythe. I was about to try speaking to Luke again when he tried to get past me for a second time. I followed him, like last time, only he tripped me, shoving me aside as the same time. I hit the ground hard and my vision went dark momentarily.

"Ethan, time to prove yourself," I heard him bark. I blinked hard, trying to clear the darkness. I looked up just in time to see Ethan swing his sword at me. I rolled away, making sure to keep my sword in my hand and swiftly got to my feet. I easily blocked his next strike and engaged, annoyed that what I'd wanted to do wasn't quite going according to plan. I tried to use the fact that he had one eye against him, but it became quite clear he'd had that eyepatch for a _long_ time. He knew what I wanted to do and quickly adjusted.

Still, I was a better sword fighter and he seemed a bit nervous. I slowly backed him toward the edge of the mountain, but he was too focused on blocking and dodging my attacks he didn't notice in time. His foot slipped and his good eye widened as he started to fall backward with a gasp.

I lowered my sword and grabbed the strap of his armor, pulling him back toward solid ground before he could get very far. Only, I used the momentum to spin us, then used my body weight to throw him to the ground.

"Stay down if you know what's good for you," I growled before straightening up and going after Kronos.

Our fight had been comparably short, but it was enough time for Kronos to take out most of the small regime they'd formed up here, as well as making sure almost everything up here was burned to the ground. At the very least, everything was burning. But I kept my gaze on the street, following his path of destruction until I finally saw him.

"Luke!" I called, running up to him, stopping him in mid-swing at a wood nymph. She was weaponless and had closed her eyes.

Kronos turned. "You have a remarkable way of interfering with things, Victoria," he growled. "I should've gotten rid of you while I had the chance."

"You tried," I remarked. "When are you going to stop with the charade?" I growled back. "I know you can't kill me. And as long as that's true, I'm going to keep coming back."  
"You're wrong," the titan said, his golden eyes boring into mine. "I am becoming stronger. Your precious boyfriend will soon be nothing. His body—ashes. I _can_ kill you."

"Prove it."

Now, it probably wasn't the smartest thing I've ever said to an all-powerful, immortal being, but I was pretty sure that Luke was keeping Kronos—and by extension anyone else—from hurting me at all. Even if Kronos was growing stronger, Luke had proved that he could overpower the titan when I'd been stabbed by that telkhine. He'd even accessed Kronos's power. That had to mean something.

However, I would recommend not daring a titan to do something because they might just go and do it.

Kronos stepped away from me, managing a smile. My heart dropped.

"It's been sweet, Victoria," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and disdain. "It really has."

He raised his free hand and an invisible force hit me, sending me flying backward. The wind was knocked from my lungs and I saw Kronos's shrinking form for a second before open sky zipped through my vision. Then I collided with something and it went dark for a moment. But I could still feel the pain from landing, hear someone cry out Percy's name, smell the smoke from the fires burning on the mountain.

I opened my eyes in time to see Percy tumble over the side of the small island the elevator stood on. I had just enough of a brain to lunge forward, despite my body's protest, and reach out for his hand. This time, I didn't miss. I managed to grab his wrist. He let out a cry of pain—dislocated shoulder, most likely—but that wasn't at the top of the list currently.

My fingers wrapped his arm tightly and I struggled to grab him with my other hand. Suddenly, different hands were helping me pull Percy up onto the island again. They stood, pulling Percy away from me as I sat up. Percy cradled his dislocated shoulder, pain etched on his features. He was groaning and his whole body was tense.

"Percy!" Grover exclaimed.

"Are you all right?" Thalia asked.

"What happened?" Annabeth inquired.

"Dislocated shoulder, let me put it back in," I told them, moving over to their friend, but not standing. My whole body was shaking. That had just been show, Kronos had to have known I was going to land here. Still keeping me alive. That meant Luke was definitely still fighting him.

"No way," Annabeth snapped, stepping in front of Percy. "I can do it." Her grey eyes glared down at me.

"Do you know how?" I asked, meeting her eyes calmly, though I was feeling quite done with her attitude. After everything that'd happened, she still didn't trust me?

"Of course," Annabeth replied haughtily.

"Do you know how to do is safely?" I asked. "I'm a trained medical professional"—Annabeth scoffed—"more or less," I tacked on. "If you do it wrong, you'll only damage it more. Percy's right-handed, if you damage his _right_ arm more, he won't be able to hold his own a fight. We don't have time to decide on whether or not you trust me, Kronos is destroying the city right now, making his way to the throne room. Now, are you going to let me help him, or let Kronos get what he wants?"

Annabeth glared at me, but reluctantly stepped aside. I moved closer to Percy and started to reach for his arm, but he pulled away instinctively. So, instead, I put a hand on his good shoulder and used my other hand to turn his head.

"Look at me," I instructed in the calmest voice I could muster. Percy opened his eyes with effort, for he'd been squeezing them shut. "Breathe, it'll help with the pain." Air hissed from between his teeth as he tried to take some breaths. Slowly, I moved my hand from his head to his wrist. He tensed. "Keep breathing," I instructed, holding his gaze. "On three." I paused. "One—" I pushed his arm back into place and he let out a cry of pain, pulling away from me. I let him, sitting back.

"Keep breathing, it'll help," I told him again. Chest heaving, his green eyes, as hard as emeralds, slid over to me.

"What happened to 'on three,'" he complained through gritted teeth.

I shrugged. "The anticipation only makes the pain worse." I think he was about to say something else, but a sound akin to ice over a frozen lake cracking sounded. I looked down and realized the small island we were sitting on was starting crumble. "Be careful or you could dislocate your shoulder again." I told him as I pushed myself to my feet and started toward the stone walkway.

"You say to the guy who will most likely have to battle Kronos," he called after me, but I was barely paying him or his friends any attention. All my mind was on was the fact that I was still alive and I still had a chance to get to Luke.

The stone steps cracked and tilted under my feet, like I was sinking slightly into soft dirt. Thankfully it didn't matter much because I was moving so fast. I was immediately over to the other side and kept sprinting up the mountain, following the trail of destruction, not bothering to see if the others were behind me or what they were doing. I only had one goal in mind now.

"Brick by brick! That was my promise!" I heard Kronos roar. "Tear it down _brick by brick_!"

I strictly remembering Luke recalling what he'd wanted to do after going on his quest to steal an apple from the Garden of Hesperides and had to wonder if Luke was influencing Kronos more than Kronos would've like anyone to believe. It also had me worried, because if it was Luke speaking, that meant he was getting caught up in what Kronos was doing. I supposed being in the same body as the titan would do that to you, but still…. I, at least, hoped that he'd remember his promise.

An explosion shook the mountain soon after he'd yelled that, but I didn't pause in my running to see what'd happened. I continued to sprint up the path I knew so well that'd lead me to the throne room, that'd lead me to Luke.

I was almost to the doors of the throne room, in the large courtyard right before the doors, when suddenly the mountain groaned and tilted to the side. Not prepared for this, I lost my balance and tumbled into a stone bench. I didn't feel any bones snap under the pressure, but pain radiated from my right side and I cried out, my left hand coming up to cradle my wounded side.

I breathed through gritted teeth and blinked away the spots dancing in my eyes. When my vision finally cleared and the pain subsided to a dull throb, I unsteadily got to my feet and stumbled through the rest of the courtyard and to the doors.

Well, they couldn't really be called that anymore. They were more like piles of scrap now. Kronos had blasted them to bits, like they'd been made from sand rather than marble. Breathing harder and ignoring the pain, I started to climb the small mountain of shrapnel. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, and I was concentrating so hard on not cutting myself on the pieces of metal sticking out in random places, I didn't realize I'd reached the top and almost went tumbling over to the other side. Thankfully, I managed to catch myself just in time and climb back down.

By now, though, my side was throbbing much more painfully, in time with my erratic and unsteady heartbeat.

Kronos was standing in the middle of the throne room, arms spread, taking it all in, his back to me. Thousands upon thousands of years and here he was again, almost back on top, almost back to ruling the world again. His laughter echoed around the large throne room, bouncing back and forth in a disorienting way. Ethan stood out of the way, out of range of Kronos's scythe.

My left hand went up to hold my right side as I took a few steps forward. Slowly, painfully, I drew my sword. Even though he shouldn't have been able to because his laughter was filling the room, Kronos heard the sound of my sword being removed from its sheath. He finished with his current laugh before slowly lowering his arms and his head.

"Well," he said, not turning. "Come on out of the shadows, Victoria, I know you're there."

Gripping my sword's hilt, I stepped into the torchlight as Kronos turned to face me. His eyes flickered to my side before going back to my eyes.

"Do you intend to fight me?" he asked in with a mocking edge. "I don't think you'd hold out well with such an injury."

I kept holding his gaze and ignored his jab at me. "Luke," I said, looking past those golden depths, taking a few careful steps closer, lowering my sword slightly. "Don't let him get to you."

Kronos's golden eyes hardened and his hand gripped his scythe until his knuckles turned white. His mouth became a thin line.

"Luke is gone," the titan hissed dangerously.

"I know that's _not_ true," I replied in a deadly calm and steady voice, which was surprising seeing as I felt way more nervous on the inside. "You still haven't killed me, which means Luke is still fighting."

"You don't know _anything_ ," Kronos growled, taking a step toward me, until we weren't even an inch apart. "You're pathetic."

I felt my heart seize and every sense in my body scream at me to turn and run as his golden eyes blazed, burning me from the inside out. But I resisted this urge and swallowed hard, gripping my sword even harder, taking deep breaths to try and remain calm.

"Fight him, Luke," I said. "I know you can overpower him. You know this is wrong. What he's doing is wrong—" I broke off and let out a cry of pain as the back of Kronos's hand connected with my cheek. He hit me with such force, I fell, my sword clattering to the ground at my side. My right side flared with acidic pain and I tensed, gritting my teeth, holding in the other screams that clawed their way up my throat.

I heard a gasp. Kronos collapsed to his hands and knees, dropping his scythe, which hit the ground at his side. And then, "Tori?"

I struggled to open my eyes and start breathing again. My vision was blurry and unfocused, but if I wasn't mistaken, I saw…

"Luke," I managed, stretching out a shaking hand toward one of his that was holding him up. One of his hands started to move toward mine, but before we could make contact, his hand froze. I looked back up, but Luke's head was bowed. I couldn't tell if Kronos had taken over again. My answer came quick as he held his hand out, Kronos's scythe flying into it.

I knew I had to move, but it felt like my body was being held down my lead weights. Someone grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet, pulling me out of the way just as Kronos, still on his knees, swung his scythe at the spot I'd just been laying. He looked up at me, his eyes blazing with so much anger and hatred, I was surprised I didn't spontaneously combust on the spot.

Before I could do or say anything more, Percy pushed me behind him. I blinked and realized he, Annabeth, and Grover had shown up. Thalia was no longer with them.

Kronos stood, rolling his neck and his shoulders, like he was stretching, or readjusting to his body again, forcing it to do what he wanted and not what Luke wanted. I glanced down at my sword lying at his feet before looking back up at him. Since Percy had pushed me behind him, however, I wasn't the immediate concern any more. For now, at least.

"Shall I destroy you first, Jackson?" Kronos asked. "Is that the choice you will make—to fight me and die instead of bowing down? Prophecies never end well, you know."

"Luke would fight with a sword," Percy replied. "But I suppose you don't have his skill."

Kronos curled his lip. His scythe started to morph, the staff shrinking toward where his hand held it. The blade straightened out and readjusted itself to align with the shrinking staff, until soon Kronos held Luke's old sword, Backbiter, the blade still half-steel and half-Celestial bronze.

Annabeth straightened like she'd just been shocked, and gasped. "Percy, the blade!" She unsheathed her knife, the one Luke had given her and stared at it like it was made of gold. " _The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap._ " She repeated the line of the Great Prophecy. I looked down at her blade, trying to figure out what she was talking about. I figured it had to do with her blade if she'd pulled it out when she'd gotten whatever idea had run through her head a moment ago.

Kronos ignored her, though, and raised his sword, getting ready to attack.

Annabeth noticed this as well. "Wait!" She cried. Too late, Kronos attacked and Percy defended on instinct. Their battle was fast-paced and they whirled around each other as they fought, reminding me of a storm. Every time their swords met, sparks flew and a sound like thunder rolled through the room.

Annabeth turned to me, suddenly, as Grover started playing his reed pipes.

"Luke!" she said fervidly, showing me her blade. I blinked, looking at it before looking back at her, thoroughly puzzled. "We have to get to him." She continued. It was like she'd forgotten she hated me and didn't trust me. "He's the hero."

My brain was slow on the uptake. It was like I was given all the pieces, but I couldn't fathom how they were put together.

"Annabeth, I don't quite understand—" I started, shaking my head, but I'd been keeping one eye on the battle between Percy and Kronos. Ethan had ducked out of the way of it and started to get behind Percy. "Watch it!" I yelled, pushing past Annabeth and scooping up my sword to engage with Ethan. "I told you to stay down."

His one eye narrowed. "I only listen to one person," he responded before pushing me harder.

Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Annabeth carefully watching Kronos and Percy, gripping her knife, trying to look for a good place to interject.

I gritted my teeth as I deflected a strike. "I don't want to hurt you," I told the son of Nemesis.

"Makes my job easier," Ethan replied.

I dodged a thrust and jabbed at him, suddenly reminded of my injured side. I forced myself to push past it, though, and focus on the battle. "I think you forgot," I said in almost an amused, if not somewhat pained, tone. He blocked my jab and tried to catch my sword to disarm me. Instead, I caught the hilt of his sword and ended up disarming him. I tripped him up and kicked his sword farther away.

"You hurt me, and your _master_ won't be very happy with you. Now, stay down," I said again, panting (my side was very uphappy), pointing my sword at him.

I heard Percy cry out in pain, almost simultaneously with Kronos, and looked in time to see Percy sit up somewhere between the hearth and the thrones, cradling his right arm. His sword had flown out of his hands and skittered across the floor. Kronos was on his knees in front of Hephaestus's throne (which was whirring and smoking), head bowed, shoulders hunched. Backbiter had fallen from his hand and lay a few feet away.

From across the room, Annabeth hesitated, her eyes going from Kronos to Percy quickly assessing the situation. A split second passed and then she ran at Kronos. "Luke, listen!"

Percy tried to call out, but before he could make a sound Kronos flicked his hand. Annabeth flew backward and slammed into her mother's throne, crumpling to the floor.

"Annabeth!" Percy cried in a choked voice, and I couldn't tell if it was because he cared so much about her or because he was in pain. It could've been both.

I started toward Percy, to help him relocate his arm, but suddenly Ethan was there, blocking my path. I glanced at the spot I'd left him before looking back at him with a glare. I gripped the hilt of my sword, prepared to engage again. I _needed_ to help Percy. If Kronos recuperated before I could get to him…

Grover's music morphed, becoming more urgent. I saw him slowly moving to Annabeth, but he had to also keep up his song. To my amazement, grass started growing on the throne room floor, roots shooting up through the marble stone, creating cracks.

Kronos moved, shifting to one knee. His hair was smoldering like the throne he was in front of. Now that he'd lifted his head somewhat, I could see his face was covered in electrical burns. I winced, thinking of Luke. Could he feel that? Kronos reached out toward his sword, but it didn't fly into his hands.

"Nakamura!" he commanded. "Time to prove yourself. You know Jackson's secret weakness. Kill him, and you will have rewards beyond measure."

Ethan turned to look over at Percy, but kept me in his line of sight—which was impressive, considering he only had one eye. That one eye was mainly focused on Percy. Percy looked back at him, breathing hard, still nursing his arm.

"Look around you, Ethan," Percy managed in a rough voice, his whole body was tense with pain. "The end of the world." He swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "Is this…the reward you want? Do you really want everything destroyed—the good with the bad? _Everything_?"

"There is no throne to Nemesis," Ethan muttered, his sword arm dipping slightly as he turned to face Percy more. His voice sounded far away. "No throne to my mother." I waited, gripping the hilt of my sword. I wasn't going to attack him while his back was turned, though. I wasn't that kind of person.

"That's right!" Kronos snapped. He tried to get up, but stumbled. I could see some of his hair above his left ear still smoldering. "Strike them down! They deserve to suffer."

"You said your mom…is the goddess of balance," Percy said, looking at Ethan, despite the pain he was in. "The minor gods deserve…better, Ethan, but total destruction…isn't _balance_. Kronos doesn't build. He only…destroys."

Ethan's head turned slightly to Hephaestus's throne that was still whirring and clicking. Grover's music kept filling the air, and Ethan started swaying to it. I held my breath as, suddenly, he stopped swaying and his sword arm raised again.

I readied my own sword.

Ethan charged, but not at Percy. Kronos had started to rise unsteadily as Ethan approached him and swung at his master's neck. Even though it seemed the titan lord hadn't gathered his bearings quite yet, he held up his hand and pushed away Ethan's strike. Seeing as he was invincible, he didn't have to worry about the blade slicing through his fingers.

Ethan may not have had the Curse of Achilles, but he was a decent enough sword fighter, especially for only having one eye. I hoped he'd be able to hold his own long enough for me to treat Percy.

I tore my eyes away from their battle, sheathed my sword, and sprinted over to Percy, falling to my knees and sliding the last few feet, coming to a stop right in front of him. My side protested again, but it was almost like the time I'd been stabbed with my sword, without the threat of agitating an open wound. I could handle this.

Percy's green eyes, which had been on Ethan, focused in on me.

"I _told_ you to be careful," I scolded, wincing slightly because of my injury.

He scoffed. "I'll keep that in mind the next time I'm _saving the world_." His eyes flickered to my side. "Besides, it looks like you're not in top condition either."

I ignored his snarky response and reached to take his arm, but he pulled away, turning away from me slightly.

"Whoa, wait," he exclaimed. "You've got to swear."

" _What?_ " I asked, glancing behind me for a moment to see how Ethan was doing. And to my pleasant surprising, he was managing to hold his own. But I knew we only had a few more seconds before Kronos overpowered him. The titan was probably still recuperating from whatever Hephaestus's chair had done to him.

I looked back at Percy.

"Swear on the Styx, you'll go on three," Percy explained.

"Percy!" I smacked him on the side of the head. "Priorities!"

But the stupid, stubborn green-eyed son of Poseidon wouldn't budge. "Swear," he repeated.

I growled, but said, "I swear on the Styx I'll go on three." I told him. His eyes narrowed, but we didn't have time for him to contemplate if there were any loopholes to what I'd said. Percy turned back toward me. I gripped his wrist and saw him take in a deep breath before holding it. I met his eyes.

"Three!" I pushed his shoulder back into place. Like last time, he pulled away and let out a cry of pain, but got over the pain quicker.

"Ugh!" He whined. "What happened to one and two?"

"They were kind of busy."

Percy glared at me, but his eyes flickered to something behind me and widened. I quickly turned, my heart jumping out of my chest. I was afraid we'd wasted time bickering about stupid swears and Kronos had managed to defeat Ethan and was now coming to slice me to bits with Backbiter.

Instead, what I saw was worse.

Kronos and Ethan were practically nose to nose. Ethan's sword was still in his hands, but the blade had shattered. His master's free hand was cupped behind Ethan's neck, Backbiter hilt deep in his stomach.

My own stomach twisted into a painful knot and my heart beat painfully against my ribcage.

Ethan's good eye was wide and stricken, filled with pain. I had an intense flashback of the Labyrinth, seeing Eddie being slowly crushed by a stone ceiling.

"Treason," Kronos snarled before pulling away, taking his sword with him. The titan stepped back as Ethan staggered away, too. Grover's music was still playing, and I watched in wonder as grass grew at Ethan's feet. The son of Nemesis looked over at Percy.

"Deserve better," he gasped in a gravelly voice. "If they just…had thrones—"

Kronos stomped his food, and the floor opened up around Ethan, who fell through the fissure that cut straight through the heart of the mountain—into open air. The air was pulled from my lungs, almost as if I was falling with him.

"So much for him," Kronos said in a calm, quiet voice, bringing my attention back to him. "And now for the rest of you."

* * *

**All right, this is it guys. The climax is almost here. Brace yourselves.**

**I hope it wasn't too much rehashing of the last few chapters of TLO. And I hope this next chapter won't be either. It's really hard not to, though, because this is such a crucial scene and I need Tori in it. Of course, I did change some things around, but the dialogue stayed relatively the same. That's also why I decided to get Tori out of there before Nico and Hades showed up, because I felt it wasn't part of her story arc and would just weigh the story down with unnecessary stuff you've already read. Anyway…**

**I hope their little argument at the end there wasn't too out of place. I needed to add just a smidge of humor since a lot of my recent chapters have been kind of doom and gloom.**


	42. That Famous Happy End

**TRIGGER WARNING: Some self-harm.**

* * *

When I was a little girl, I remember my mother reading bedtime stories to me. All the bedtime stories with the princesses and princes. The damsels in distress and the knights in shining armor. I didn't really care about that stuff, though. My mother didn't either, really. But I begged her to read them to me if only to hear the happy ending they got. The happy ending, where they rode off into the sunset and lived happily ever after.

But that wasn't my life.

I wasn't a princess or a normal girl. I was a demigod.

When I got to Camp Half-Blood I no longer read stories about happy endings, I read stories about wars, and horrors, and painful deaths. Heroes who were never happy and never got happy endings. Thing was, the stories never talked about or focused on anyone else but the hero.

I wasn't a hero. That didn't mean that I was going to get a happy ending.

Aphrodite was wrong when she said my romance with Luke was like _Romeo and Juliet_ , because the fact was, it was much worse.

* * *

Percy's sword appeared back in his pocket. He was just barely able to stand and get it out to meet Kronos, before the titan descended upon him. I moved out of the way—the pain in my side increasing—half-staggering over to Grover and Annabeth. He was feeding her ambrosia, which meant he couldn't play his pipes. The grass that'd grown on the floor of the throne room was pulling at Kronos's feet, but because he'd stopped so early, it wasn't doing much but annoying the titan.

I kneeled on Annabeth's other side. "Let me," I said, holding out my hand. "Keep playing." I gestured my head over to where Percy and Kronos were fighting.

Grover nodded and handed over the ambrosia before starting to play again. Annabeth was completely unconscious. She probably had a concussion from hitting her mother's throne so hard. Maybe even some broken ribs. Her arm was still healing from that poisoned knife.

When her breathing grew stronger and her eyelids fluttered I stopped momentarily.

"Annabeth," I said quietly, glancing over to see how Percy and Kronos's battle was progressing. Percy seemed unable to move. Kronos had backed away from him. He had a slash across his chest that'd cut through his breastplate. At the hearth, the coals were glowing and white smoke started forming above them, showing images like an Iris-message.

I saw Nico, and recognized Percy's mother, on Fifth Avenue, still fighting against Kronos's endless army. I think I may have got a glimpse of Dan, too, which lifted my spirits incrementally.

Annabeth tried to say something, bringing my attention back to her. I leaned in closer to her to try to hear what she was saying.

"More," she whispered. "…need more."

I pulled away and fed her a few more small squares of ambrosia. Annabeth's eyes finally opened fully and, with difficulty, she straightened up, but kept sitting and leaning against Athena's throne.

"What were you talking about?" I asked, now that she was coherent. "About Luke. It has something to do with your blade—"

I broke off when Kronos laughed, "The Olympians are giving their final effort. How pathetic."

I looked over at the smoke image to see what I figured was Typhon. A gruesome sight, probably one of the worst monsters I'd ever and will have ever seen. His head was misshapen and his face shifted almost like Kampê's monstrous belt, only they weren't animals, they were faces of monsters from the deepest, darkest parts of Tartarus, growing more and more horrible with each morph. His body was humanoid, but his hands had talons like an eagle's and his legs were reptilian. The rest of his body reminded me of the moldy sandwiches at the bottom of the Tupperware pile in May Castellan's kitchen, with blisters the size of skyscrapers and blackened patches.

Zeus threw a thunderbolt at the monster, lighting up smoke image. I had to look away it was so bright and so strong. I could feel the change in the atmosphere from here.

Annabeth tugged on my shirt and I focused my attention back on her.

She had her knife in her other hand, holding it out for me to see.

"I'm assuming Luke's told you about this?" she asked in a soft, wistful voice. I looked down at the blade before looking back at her. I was pleasantly surprised that there was no anger and resentment or jealousy in her tone at all.

"Yes," I answered, nodding once.

Annabeth's eyes went down to her knife and I looked down at it too. Behind me, there was some kind of commotion going on, but I was too enrapt in what Annabeth was about to tell me to really pay attention to what was happening. Kronos sounded angry, though.

"A promise," she said, her voice sounding fragile. "Family." Her hand fisted, gripping the hilt. "He promised we'd be a family. That he…wouldn't let me down. He made a promise on _this_ knife."

I looked back up at her. She was already looking at me.

" _The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap,_ " I repeated in a whisper, finally realizing. A shock went through me as it all clicked into place—that line of the prophecy, my dream of Luke dying in my arms, where his wound was, the realization that he wasn't going to survive this….

"Help me remind him," Annabeth said.

I stood slowly, feeling like my whole world had completely flipped. Everything was inside out, upside down, leaving me disoriented and breathless. I looked back over at Kronos and Percy in time to see Kronos slice his sword through the smoke image. It flickered like a light going out before the smoke dissipated.

"They're on their way," Percy said. "You've lost."

Kronos's voice was dark and deadly, "I haven't even started."

The titan advanced on Percy faster than any normal person could move. Grover and I started moving at the same time, toward both of them, but Grover got to them first. It was brave, I had to admit, but there wasn't much he could do. Kronos pushed the satyr away easily into Hera's throne, and with so much force Grover had to sit down. He looked a little stunned.

I quickly stepped in front of Percy, readying my sword. Kronos hesitated, then, his golden eyes flashing. I thought for sure I'd be frozen in time, but when I shifted, it was in real time.

We had a stand-off for a moment before suddenly blue flooded into his eyes and he gasped. His sword hand drooped.

"Luke?" I asked breathlessly, taking a step forward, lowering my sword slightly. Luke's eyes focused in on me. They were pained and angry and confused. I froze, suddenly uncertain.

"Why?" he asked in a whisper, his chest heaving.

"Luke?" I asked again carefully, shaking my head. "I don't…I don't understand."

Those blue eyes flickered behind me momentarily and I followed his gaze, looking at Percy—which only made me more confused—over my shoulder before turning back to Luke. His gaze was on me again. I opened my mouth to say something, but suddenly liquid gold poured into those blue eyes, like someone had taken a syringe and injected the color back into them.

I stepped back, confused and wondering why he'd _let_ Kronos take over again.

I was so stunned that I couldn't move as Kronos came forward. Percy shoved me out of the way before engaging with the titan. All I could do was stand there and watch, trying to figure out what just happened.

Luke had looked so hurt and angry. And it was directed at me. But…why? And then he'd willingly let Kronos take back control?

As I watched the two fight, I realized it almost look like Kronos was trying to get _me_. The titan was completely focused on their fight, of course, but he was pushing Percy back toward me.

They were only feet away from me now. Percy sidestepped Kronos's sword and jabbed under the titan's guard. It would've been a good trick, but having battled Luke for five years, I knew he knew it. Kronos countered Percy's strike before disarming him with one of the first moves Luke had ever taught the boy. Percy's sword flew from his hands, skittering across the floor and straight into the open fissure.

Ignoring my astonishment that'd managed to daze me, I quickly went forward, stepping in front of Percy again, lifting my sword. Kronos paused briefly again before his eyes blazed. With a cry of outrage that I couldn't be sure was totally his, he came at me. I gripped the hilt of my sword and took a deep breath, bracing myself.

Our swords met and I managed to lock them, stumbling back a couple of steps in the process. I fought the urge to cradle my injury at my side, as the pain grew worse. I cursed myself silently for not taking some of the ambrosia while I'd had the chance.

Gritting my teeth, my arms shaking from the effort, I shoved him away from me.

"Why is it always him?" Kronos roared, swinging his sword at me again. I locked our blades for a second time. His face was inches from mine. "Why is it always _Percy Jackson_?"

The realization hit me so suddenly, I almost lost my grip. I just barely managed to push the titan lord back.

Some of Kronos's first words, directed to Percy, in his new form blew through my mind like a cold wind, _Luke feared you. His jealousy and hatred have been powerful tools._

Luke wasn't just jealous of how people seemed to gravitate toward Percy. He had also been talking about my strange friendship with the son of Poseidon.

I gripped my sword, anger burning through me, giving me more energy.

"Luke!" I exclaimed. "Don't listen to him! I have stayed by your side this whole time. _Everything_ I have done was what I thought was in your best interest."

"You've still helped _him_!" Kronos came at me again and I concluded that I'd have to lock our swords each time if I was going to stand any chance against him. Of course, Percy's sword had probably reappeared in his pocket, but this was between me and Luke, now.

"You saved him from the pit scorpion," Kronos told me, though at this point I wasn't sure who was speaking anymore. His eyes were still golden, and his voice still ancient, but these words sounded like Luke's.

"He was just a kid, Luke. You know it was wrong." I replied back through gritted teeth before pushing him away.

He came at me again. "You went to check on Annabeth, for _him_."

"You kidnapped his friend. He was just worried." I shoved him away. My arms felt like spaghetti, but Kronos swung again.

"You helped him and Beckendorf off the ship," he growled.

"You were blackmailing Silena. And you _promised_ not to harm Beckendorf." I tried to push him away, but he pushed back and my arms decided to give out then. And so did my legs. My knees buckled and I lost my grip on my sword. I collapsed to the floor, sitting down hard, my sword clattering from my hand. My arms wrapped around my middle as I tried to force breaths through my mouth to dispel the pain.

Kronos's own blade continued its path downward, just barely missing me, connecting to the floor an inch away from my leg.

Still breathing heavily, I lifted my head. Kronos glared down at me, also breathing hard. His hand gripped the hilt of Backbiter before he slowly started to raise it.

" _Stop!_ " Annabeth's voice rang throughout the room.

With his raised sword, Kronos spun toward her, slashing downward. I watched in amazement as she caught his blade on the hilt of her dagger before she stepped in for leverage. Their blades crossed. Their faces mere inches apart.

"Luke," she said through gritted teeth. "I understand now. You have to trust me."

Kronos bellowed in fury. "Luke Castellan is dead! His body will burn away as I assume my true form!" He pushed against her, trying to extricate their blades, but she was able to hold him, her whole body trembling from the effort. Backbiter's blade was slowly inching its way toward Annabeth's neck.

"Your mother," Annabeth struggled to say. "She saw your fate."

"Service to Kronos!" that titan roared. "This is my fate."

"No!" Annabeth objected, her grey eyes filling with tears. Her voice was shaky. "That's not the end, Luke. The prophecy: she saw what you would do. It applies to you!"

"I will crush you child!" Kronos raged.

"You won't," Annabeth insisted. "You promised. You're holding Kronos back even now."

Promise.

I was taken back to that night Luke and I had gone to the Underworld to prepare his body for Kronos, standing next to the Styx. His arms around my waist, his hand comfortingly caressing my cheek, asking him to promise me he'd remember I wasn't abandoning him, that I'd never abandon him.

I struggled to get to my feet as Kronos growled, " _Lies!_ "

And even though my body felt like it had when we'd blown up Kronos's ship and I'd spent the night holding onto a piece of wood talking to Beckendorf, almost completely submerged in water, I pushed myself to my feet. If I'd found energy then, I could find energy now.

The titan pushed Annabeth harder and she lost her balance. Using his free hand, Kronos backhanded her and she slid backward into Athena's throne again.

Kronos approached her slowly. A quick glance around the room and I realized Percy and Grover were being held by his time spell. They were struggling to move, but weren't getting anywhere. For some reason, I wasn't being affected. Maybe he thought I'd used up all my energy. Maybe he thought I wasn't a threat anymore.

Whatever the reason, I was free. Summoning any last energy I had left, I pushed myself forward, in between Kronos and Annabeth just as he got to her.

He didn't even seem to notice me this time, raising his sword. I raised mine protectively, holding the blade above my head, horizontally, also taking the blade into my left hand so I'd have more leverage. I knew his strike was going to be like a bus landing on my sword and it could possibly cause my own blade to cut right through my hand, but at this point, I wasn't really thinking.

When his blade met mine, pain exploded in my hand. The pain of my other injury also blazed to life, like someone had just set my side on fire. My knees buckled and I listed slightly to the right, but I forced myself to stay standing. I gritted my teeth and bowed my head, determined to keep his blade away from me and Annabeth. My fingers wrapped around my blade, causing more pain. My whole body trembled as I slowly started lowering to the floor, unable to handle the weight.

When one of my knees hit the floor, I forced my head to rise and looked up at Kronos. He was glared down at me with cold hatred.

I thought about what Annabeth had said, _Help me remind him_ , and took a deep breath. "You promised." I reminded Luke, looking straight into Kronos's eyes. "You promised me that you'd remember—that I would never abandon you." My arms were getting weaker, his blade getting closer to my head. "That everything I ever did was for you. That I will _always_ love you."

Closer and closer still, his blade inched its way toward me. I started feeling its evil aura.

"You promised Annabeth," I continued, sinking to both knees, straining to speak and hold the weight.

From behind me, Annabeth's weak voice came. "Family, Luke," she said.

"You promised." she and I said together.

The pressure lessoned on my blade. I didn't think the danger had quite passed, but my arms didn't care. I sat down as my arms dropped, my sword falling in front of me. I kept my gaze up at Kronos, whose sword was held aloft, hovering a few inches above my head. He looked…stunned. His eyes flickered from me to Annabeth.

" _Promise._ " Annabeth repeated.

Then he gasped suddenly, like he'd just come up for air. "Annabeth…" My heart squeezed at the sound of Luke's voice, though I'd heard it only a moment ago. His blue eyes flickered back to me regret swirling in those blue depths. "Tori." They darted from my hand to behind me again. "You're both bleeding…"

Annabeth spoke, "My knife." But I heard something hit the floor and turned to see her dagger lying at her side. One of her arms was bent at an unpleasant angle. I knew what she wanted though. I moved to go pick it up for her, but because I couldn't stand, I leaned over, which caused me to put pressure on my left hand, forgetting I'd cut it.

More pain washed through me and I yelped, just barely able to catch myself with my other hand, cradling my wounded one to my body. My body curled in on itself instinctively, putting me more to Annabeth's side. I squeezed my eyes shut and forced breath through my teeth as the burning slowly subsided.

When my vision cleared, Percy had appeared, and he'd picked up Annabeth's dagger.

Luke's eyes stayed on us, though, not even noticing Percy. He tried to step toward us, but Percy blocked his path.

"Don't touch her," he said, and I had a feeling he was only talking about Annabeth. Not that I minded, really.

Anger flashed in Luke's eyes, and they turned gold momentarily. Kronos's voice resurfaced. "Jackson…"

I blinked hard and rubbed my eyes with my good hand. Was Luke glowing?

He gasped and Luke's voice was back. "He's changing. Help," Luke pleaded, making my heart stutter painfully in my chest. "He's…he's almost ready. He won't need my body anymore. Please—"

" _NO!_ " Kronos was back. He looked around wildly for his sword, but at some point it'd been knocked from his hand. When the titan spotted it, he staggered over to the hearth. Percy attempted to stop him, but Kronos was still strong, and easily pushed Percy away, landing him right next to Annabeth. I heard him hit his head against Athena's throne and winced, reminding me of the time he'd followed me into the Labyrinth.

Annabeth was speaking to him, but her voice was too quiet for me to hear. I felt like I was in some kind of stupor, unable to move. Everything around me seemed brighter and the sounds in high-definition. The room seemed to be spinning slightly…

Suddenly Kronos let out a cry of pain, jolting me. I looked over to the hearth to see him drop his sword, his hands scorched and seared.

Luke turned, collapsing to his knees. My breath caught, seeing those blue eyes in so much pain.

"Please, Percy…" he begged in a ragged voice. I tried moving toward him, a pained noise coming from the back of my throat, but couldn't get very far. It almost felt like my body wasn't mine and I couldn't control it exactly right.

Percy struggled to his feet, Annabeth's dagger in his hand. As I watched him approach Luke, my heart lurched painfully in my chest, the pain radiating outward into my body like the energy from an explosion.

_The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap._

I fell back into my body and managed to push myself to my feet, ignoring my body's protests. It was especially hard, using only one hand, the other I was still holding against my stomach. I staggered closer to the two of them, but froze when Percy gripped the hilt of the dagger in his hand, the muscles in his arm tensed and rippled like he was going to strike out at Luke.

Luke seemed to know this as well.

"You can't…" he choked, "can't do it yourself. He'll break my control. He'll defend himself. Only my hand. I know where. I can…can keep him controlled."

Percy stared down at Luke. His back was to me, so I couldn't see his expression. Luke, however…if my eyes weren't deceiving me, he was really starting to glow and even smoke. If Percy didn't act, the war would be over, its victor: Kronos, the Titans.

I watched as Percy raised the dagger like he was going to strike at Luke, but he hesitated and looked over toward Annabeth, who was now being held by Grover.

"Please," Luke pleaded. "No time."

Another moment of indecision and finally Percy lowered his raised hand, holding the dagger out for Luke to take. My heart skipped a beat and I felt my world shift. For a moment I felt like I was falling as my mind finally, fully registered what was going on. I still felt frozen, but my body was shaking from the effort of standing.

Grover yelped. "Percy?" he asked. "Are you…um…" He trailed off, probably not wanting to offend his friend.

Percy didn't answer, though, as Luke grasped the hilt of the dagger with one hand. With the other he unlatched the side straps of his armor, exposing a small bit of skin just under his left arm. My dream…

He started to bring the dagger forward and _that's_ when my body decided it could move again. It's also when my brain decided to do something really impulsive and stupid, something that could've lost us the war.

I went up to Luke, falling to my knees in front of him and kissed him. His skin was so hot and I knew that we were seriously running out of time, but I wanted to get in one last kiss before the end. I needed him to know that I loved him.

Luke pulled away with difficulty.

"I love you," I quickly whispered.

"I love you, too," he whispered back as he stabbed himself. I felt someone's hand—probably Percy's—grasp my arm and pull me back. Luke's cry sliced right through me, like Kronos's scythe. It was the most painful thing I'd ever felt hit me. More painful than when I'd broken my leg. More painful than the hellhound that attacked me. More painful than when the _empousa_ had cut me open. More painful than getting stabbed with my own sword. More painful than any physical and mental pain I'd experienced up to this point.

The throne room shook, knocking me off my feet. The hand at my arm disappeared. A blinding light glowed throughout the room and heat as hot as a lightning bolt hit me. As it faded, I struggled to my feet again.

There was no sound in the throne room at all as I went forward, toward Luke. I ignored the ring of black ash surrounding his body that was sprawled out on the floor, beside the hearth. I collapsed with my legs underneath me on his left side, which was bloody. His breathing was a deep rattle.

But his eyes…they were his wintery blue again. My heart ached just looking at them.

"Good…blade," he spoke, breaking the silence. I took his hand in my left, despite its wounds—his skin was uncomfortably hot, like Kronos was still there, just about to reform and take his true form—and carefully set his head in my lap. He closed his eyes for a moment and let out a slow breath. I felt him relax slightly.

My other hand came up to gently brush some hair from his forehead. I could feel tears slide down my face, but I made no other noise.

Percy came over, then Grover who helped Annabeth. They all knelt on Luke's other side.

I turned my gaze back to Luke and kept gently stroking his forehead. His blue eyes looked over at one of three, but I kept my eyes on him.

"You knew." he whispered. His eyes flickered up to me. "Both of you."

I looked up at Annabeth. "Well," I managed in a shaky voice just above a whisper. "Annabeth figured it out." I met her eyes and an understanding seemed to pass between us. I don't know that her anger toward me, her jealousy and hatred were completely gone, but I hoped that this would change her view of me.

Annabeth looked back at Luke and so did I.

"I almost killed you, but you knew..." His eyes went back and forth between us, but rested on Annabeth when she spoke.

"Shh." Her voice trembled. "You were a hero at the end, Luke. You'll go to Elysium."

Luke shook his head weakly. "Think... rebirth. Try for three times. Isles of the Blest."

I couldn't help but smile at that. That was Luke.

Annbeth sniffled. "You always pushed yourself too hard," she said on the same page as I was.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eyes and glanced up to see Luke hold up his ruined hand. Annabeth reached out and touched his fingertips.

"Did you..." Luke stopped and coughed, his lips glistening a wicked red. "Did you love me?"

There was a pause before Annabeth spoke. "There was a time I thought... well, I thought..." She broke off. There a long pause and I finally glanced up to see if something had happened. Annabeth was now gazing at Percy, who was meeting her eyes. "You were like a brother to me, Luke," she finally spoke softly. "But I didn't love you."

Luke nodded as if expecting that before wincing in pain. I gripped his hand tighter.

"We can get ambrosia," Grover said. "We can—"

"Grover," Luke interrupted quitely, swallowing hard. "You're the bravest satyr I ever knew. But, no." He swallowed hard. "There's not healing..." He coughed agian and my stomach tightened.

Suddenly his blue eyes met mine again, piercing and desperate. More tears streamed down my face and I gripped his hand tighter.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his hand suddenly gripping mine. His hold was surprisingly strong for how weak he looked and sounded, for the fact that he was on his deathbed.

"What?" I breathed.

His eyebrows furrowed and he swallowed hard again. "I did this for you, because I didn't want you to leave me. But now it looks like I'm going to be leaving you. And I'm sorry for that. I never meant to do this to you." Luke's free hand started toward my face and gently ran one of his fingers under my eyes, catching some of my tears before pulling his hand back again. His other hand gripped mine even tighter. "It's not fair to you, and I'm sorry for that."

"I-I forgive you," I whispered, quickly, shakily as more tears flooded my eyes. A small smile appeared on his face but his eyebrows furrowed and eyes look pained, like he hadn't wanted me to forgive him.

In truth, it _wasn't_ fair, it wasn't fair at all. And I didn't want him to go, but this wasn't how it worked. He'd hit his Achilles' heel, there was no coming back from that.

I closed my eyes if only for a moment.

"I love you," he said. "Never forget that."

"I love you, too," I managed in a whisper, opening my eyes again, gripping his hand.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Luke's eyes strayed over to the three again. I could tell it was taking all he could to stay alive for just a little longer. I followed his gaze this time, to Percy. His other hand gripped Percy's sleeve.

"Ethan. Tori. Me. All the unclaimed," Luke said, his voice becoming stronger in the last, few vital seconds. "Don't let it…don't let it happen again."

"I won't," Percy said his voice just as fierce, meeting Luke's eyes. "I promise."

Luke nodded. His hand slipped from Percy's sleeve. I felt the hand in mine lose its grip. His blue eyes looked back at me and I could see the panic and fear in them as he took his last breaths. He opened his mouth, trying to say something. I quickly pulled my hand from his so I could caress his face, stroking his cheek with my thumb.

"Hey, shh, shh," I crooned softly, reassuringly, my mind speeding a mile a minute trying to think of something to say that would comfort him in his last moments. "It's all right." My voice shook. A memory flooded my senses from my childhood, when I'd woken up from a nightmare. My mom would calm me down enough I could fall back asleep, but didn't want to because I was scared I'd have another nightmare. The words she'd always say to me that eased all my worries: "J-just close your eyes," I told Luke softly, almost losing my ability to speak. "And I'll be here when you wake up."

Just like I did when my mom said this, Luke seemed to relax at my words. I didn't know if he had planned on actually closing his eyes, but before he could his body shuddered once and he let out a small sigh. The light in his eyes slowly faded, becoming shallow pools, reflecting back the dark, starry night sky above us.

I stopped stroking his cheek, sobs shaking my body, more tears streaming down my face. I leaned over him more, closing my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed, words finally finding their way out. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

I finally understood why Luke hadn't wanted me to die, hadn't wanted to be left alone…now that I was alone. The moment it hit me, a cry ripped through me. I had an out of body experience and didn't know it had been me until I realized I'd pulled my hands away from his head so I could hold Luke closer to me, wrapping my arms around his torso. I sobbed into his chest.

I pulled back, setting him on the floor again, but leaning over him, one hand holding me up, the other caressing his face.

"Please, don't go," I cried, looking into those shallow pools. I rested my forehead against his and closed my eyes. "Don't leave me alone. Don't go where I can't follow." I moved my head back to his chest and gripped his shirt as I continued to cry. "I'm sorry." I repeated and kept repeating over and over again.

I don't know how long I was weeping, but something came over me that took everything away. It was such an odd sensation. A hollow sensation. My tears dried up and I slowly pulled away from Luke, setting him gently in my lap again. Taking his hand again and stroking his forehead as I stared into his eyes.

Something brushed my shoulder and I saw a potential life, my potential life, flash before my eyes. I hesitantly looked away from Luke and over my shoulder. An old lady in a dark Greek robe stood over me, looking down at me with solemn eyes. I looked behind her and saw two identical looking woman. I met the nearest one's eyes again.

 _It's time,_ she spoke in my mind.

I looked back at Luke. I brushed his hair from his forehead again before gently closing his eyelids and leaning down to kiss his forehead. I pulled back only slightly and held my face over his for a moment before finally pulling away. I carefully set him on the ground in front of me. The three Fates knelt next to him, carefully skirting around me, as they wrapped him up in a shroud with a caduceus on it. They then picked his body up and carried it out of view. I continued to sit there, the hearth at my back, staring at the spot his body had been.

Luke was gone.

I expected to feel another rush of pain, more tears to flood my eyes, and more sobs wrack my body. But, no. Nothing. I felt nothing. I would've been scared at this strange calmness, but I couldn't even feel that either. Maybe calm was the wrong word.

_Numb._

Numb was more like it.

I was blind and deaf to what was going on around me as I continued to sit there and stare the spot on the floor. As I waited for some kind of feeling, any feeling, to hit me.

My eyes caught my wounded hand. It still throbbed and was still bleeding. But I _felt_ it, unlike everything else. Despite the numbness that'd crept over me, I could still feel this pain. And now that I thought about it, the pain in my side, too.

I turned my hand over and reached over with my right hand, pressing my thumb into the wound with as much pressure as possible.

Breath hissed from my gritted teeth, but the pain was almost comforting. It told me I was still alive, told me I could still feel something.

I don't know how long I kept my thumb there, but suddenly someone's warm hands were pulling mine apart.

"You shouldn't do that," a deep voice said softly. I looked up to see my father, at his usual preferred age of seventeen, kneeling in front of me. His armor was hard to look at, and the rest of him looked like he hadn't just been fighting a ginormous, ancient monster for a week or so. Not a single hair out of place, literally. Ray-Bans were currently resting at the top of his head, amidst those perfect curly, golden locks.

"Why should it matter?" I replied dully, shrugging, avoiding his eyes. Eyes that reminded me too much of…. Instead, I kept them on my hands. Apollo still held them. "I'm assuming Zeus will want to punish me for what's happened. And I'm assuming this punishment will be death. They have to blame someone, don't they? And Luke's dead—" I broke off, choking on those words. The pain was gone almost as quick as it had appeared, though.

I heard my father sigh heavily, wearily before he took my injured hand in one of his, his other hand resting gently on my side. Soft, golden light shined where his hands were as he spoke an incantation. The pain slowly disappeared, and when Apollo pulled his hands away I examined my hand. Completely healed, there wasn't even any blood to show I'd been injured. I twisted a little to test my side, also completely healed.

"When are you going to stop pretending to not know your children's futures?" I finally asked, lifting my gaze. A small stab of pain shot through me when I met his eyes, but it didn't last long. The hollowness swallowed it like a black hole.

He didn't answer for a long time. Suddenly, he reached out toward me again, this time putting a hand on my shoulder, the other hand on the side of my neck.

"You look tired," Apollo said just as my eyelids started drooping. Too late, I realized what he was doing. I reached up to pull his hands away from me, but my eyes were already closing. The sensation of his warm hands on my shoulder and neck faded as I sunk into unconsciousness.


	43. And Back

**TRIGGER WARNING: Thoughts of suicide and talk of torture.**

* * *

For once, I had no nightmares. When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on a cot in a cell. I was surprised to find they had cells on Olympus. Then again, they were gods, they could create whatever they wanted with a snap of their fingers, so I guess I shouldn't have been all that surprised.

Or, I suppose, more accurately, I would've been surprised and shouldn't have been surprised. However, seeing as that numbness that'd crept up on me was still swirling inside my body, sucking away any and all emotions and feelings, I didn't feel surprised at all. I couldn't even feel angry at Apollo for putting me to sleep.

My body felt stronger, though, I had to admit. I was no longer on the verge of physical collapse. Any wounds I'd sustained were gone. My body felt in top condition, something I hadn't felt in a while.

I slowly sat up, setting my feet on the ground, holding the edge of the cot with my hands.

I guess I had to wait now. For my trial. Or rather, death, like a prisoner on death row. There was no way the gods were going to let me off, let me live. After everything I'd done. Maybe I hadn't officially pledged myself to Kronos, but I'd helped Luke for a time, and then I'd become the reason Luke even went through with hosting Kronos. If it hadn't been for me, we wouldn't even have made it to this point.

For some reason, my mind latched onto those thoughts as I waited.

Right now, nothing they could do to me seemed more torturous than staying alive. It wasn't even that being alive was painful. No, just the opposite. My world was crumbling around me and I felt nothing. Empty. Hollow. Numb. It felt like if someone walked past me, the stirred air would break me into a thousand tiny shards, as if I was a soap bubble ready to pop as soon as I hit the surface of something not like what I was made from.

At least, if they killed me, I'd _feel_ something. It didn't matter how, at least I'd feel something again. Drawn and quartered? Hanged? Struck by lightning? Drowned? I remembered the large hole that Kronos had made next to Hephaestus' chair. A fall from Olympus would surely kill me—a fall from such a height. I could open my arms, bleed out. The fire in a brazier near my cell caught my eye…burned alive. Crucified. There were so many ways…even after all that, I'd probably suffer for the rest of eternity in the Fields of Punishment.

If Luke really did want to be reborn and try for the Isles of Blest and I ended up in the Fields of Punishment that meant I'd never see him again.

When it was time for me to go back into the throne room, two godlings, dressed in Greek armor, came and got me. When we entered, the gods were all in their respective thrones. It looked like the throne room had been repaired from the battle. My eyes flickered to the spot where Luke had…

They brought me to stand in front of Zeus before stepping back, off to the side.

"Victoria Anna Williams," Zeus's voice boomed through the room, commanding and powerful. "You are here with charges of joining the titan's side, helping with their operations, and allowing Luke Castellan to be possessed by the titan, Kronos. Do you have anything to say before we decide your punishment?"

I felt a small flash of surprise run through me before it was enveloped, completely lost in the numbness. I shook my head silently.

Zeus's Judge, Jury, and Executioner façade dropped momentarily and he looked down at me stunned.

He raised a dark eyebrow. "Are you sure?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Very well, let the vote begin," Zeus continued gaining his composure back. "Kill her—all in favor?"

I let my gaze go into soft focus, not caring about seeing what they decided. I'd know soon enough. Besides, I had a feeling what it was going to be. It was silent for a long time and I wasn't sure if it was because some of the gods were being indecisive or what, but finally Zeus spoke again. I lifted my gaze. His expression was hard to read.

"Majority rules," he announced before turning those electric blue eyes on me. "You will be allowed to live." I blinked a burst of shock filling me, momentarily overwhelming the numbness. And for once since the numbness had come, this emotion stayed. "You will return to Camp Half-Blood. Dionysus will monitor you, and you are required to do whatever he asks of you. If you do not do what he asks, disobey him, or step out of line, he will have final decision on what to do with you." He paused before his voice lowered, becoming dangerous. "But make no mistake, if he does not act accordingly, I will handle any discrepancies personally." His eyes flashed—literally—before he turned back to the other gods. "Meeting adjourned."

In a flash of lighting, Zeus disappeared. The heat burned and I had to close my eyes to avoid being blinded, but I couldn't move. The shock was still there, slowly being enveloped by the numbness, but still there nonetheless.

I was…going to live? That thought was almost enough to make the pain in my chest return. I was going to live…but without Luke. I was going to live with the knowledge that I could've saved him, that I could've prevented his death. That I could've prevented a lot of deaths.

"Miss Williams!" Our camp director's voice cut through my thoughts. Struggling, I managed to turn and face him. He was standing in front of his throne, human size now. His eyes glared at me and he wore a scowl. "I expect you to be back at camp in one hour so we may go over the rules of your…probation. _Don't_ be late." With that he disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, bringing the scent of grapes with it.

Still in a daze, I forced my feet to move. I didn't want to stick around in the throne room long enough to find out what they'd do to me if I did, though most of the gods had left already. I got the courtyard and slowed when I noticed two people conversing. One of them was my father, the other was—

"Dan!" I exclaimed. Dan jumped and looked up, looking over at me, forgetting whatever he was talking to Apollo about. I was suddenly engulfed in his arms. The warmth he had burned away the numbness for the time being and I felt the shock of being kept alive hit me full force. I also felt the pain. It was like an echo of the pain I felt when Luke died. I could feel it throughout my whole body, like the radiation from the nuclear blast—ground zero right in my chest, where the pain was worst.

Before I knew it, tears were spilling from my eyes, my arms going around my brother's broad shoulders.

"I lost him," I sobbed. "I lost him." I repeated this a few times as Dan rubbed my back. He was also trying to comfort me, but his words were completely lost on me.

It was then that I realized that living _was_ my punishment. Everything that I'd witnessed in the throne room had all been for show. They knew that living in a world without Luke would destroy me, so here I was, still alive.

But Luke was gone.

* * *

I stared at my freshly made bed, gathering myself before I went back outside to face the day. The pain in my chest was ever present, but I'd come to accept that it was going to be a part of me now and until I died. I would just have to learn to live with it.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and carefully, pushing all my demons back into their cage for today.

I opened them again, stared at my bed for a few more moments before turning around…and almost crashing into someone. I let out a squeak of surprise and veered back. When I saw who it was I instantly kneeled.

"Lord Hermes," I greeted politely, but in a rushed voice. I ignored the painful jerk in my chest.

Kneeling and formal greeting was something I would have to become used to now. I didn't think I was going to be greeted by gods often, but being Mr. D's personal assistant (what he'd called it when we'd gone over the "house rules"), I would be calling him My Lord from now on. I assumed that also extended this formality to the other gods as well. Not that I hadn't done that already out of simple respect, but they didn't seem so strict about it. It just seemed more paramount now since I was not on good terms with them.

I couldn't read the expression on the messenger god's features as I stood. He was wearing a postal carrier outfit today, with a mailbag slung over one shoulder and white pith helmet over his curly black hair.

"What brings you here, if I may ask," I said.

"A delivery, of course," he said in a measured tone. I blinked. I had a delivery? What could it be and from whom? Hermes reached into his bag as he spoke. "I don't think he ever expected this to get to you from me, but this _is_ how things work. Messenger of the gods and all that." I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about, but I didn't say anything. He seemed more subdued today. Not that I regularly saw him, however, his aura just exuded this weary tiredness.

Finally he pulled out a regular white envelope from his bag. My full name was written on the back in handwriting I instantly recognized, but had only seen once or twice. Tears stung my eyes, my demons rattled in their cage, and the pain in my chest hit me full force, making it hard to breath.

I shook my head. "I don't want it." I choked out, taking a step back, only to have the back of my legs hit the bed behind me.

Hermes met my eyes, his own eyes sad.

"He wanted you to have this," he said quietly, holding it out to me.

"How do you know?" I snapped. God or not, I wasn't going to accept this. I _couldn't_ …

"I am his father," he answered. "Despite everything that's happened, I care—cared—very much about him. He wrote this specifically for you, just in case."

"Just in case _what_?" I questioned harshly, trying to hold back the sobs. I blinked and my tears broke free. I didn't make a move to wipe them away.

Hermes didn't answer. His look said it all. We both knew the answer.

"I don't want it," I repeated, my voice shaking. I swallowed hard. "Please, just…burn it or-or throw it away. I don't—" I had to turn away. I clamped my hand over my mouth as the sob built in my throat and the tears streamed down my face. My chest felt heavy and my breathing became labored. I slowly sunk to the floor, leaning against the bed frame. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and looked over my shoulder to see Hermes lay the envelope on my bed. He met my gaze for a moment.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly before stepping away from the bed. He started to glow and I looked away and closed my eyes until the brightness had faded. I wondered what he was sorry about.

I looked over my shoulder again at the envelope. Without my permission, my shaking hand reached out to take it and bring it toward me. I slumped against the bed frame, feeling the pain wash over me, wave after wave. It was almost like how the ocean ebbed and flowed at the shore. Some moments the pain was almost unbearable, but it would slowly pull back, only to become unbearable again for a moments.

I stared down at my name written on the back for I don't know how long. Finally, I turned it over and opened it up. The first thing that fell out was a necklace. The chain was thin and metal. Attached to it was a single charm made of a silvery metal. Or rather, something more like a ring (welded to a smaller ring, attached to the chain). There was a sound wave carved out of the bottom of the ring. I ran my fingers across it, feeling the sharp edges of the voice recording. I had a small inkling of what it might be a recording of.

I sunk even lower to the floor, the ring resting in my shaking palm. Tears streamed freely from my eyes, dripping onto my hand. Despite this, I managed a small smile.

"I love you, too," I whispered. I closed my eyes and gripped the necklace in my hand, trying to rein in my emotions so I could get to the letter itself.

I was so busy concentrating on that, when I opened my eyes again, I almost missed that there was a word in the middle of the ring, also a silvery metal: Promise.

I nearly dropped it from my still shaking hand. The wave of pain that hit me, nearly pulled me out to sea. I felt like I was drowning, overwhelmed by the amount of agony that engulfed me. I forced myself to hold onto something, to focus on something that would keep me grounded, to breathe until the wave receded. I thought of my brother, his life away from gods and monster, on stage, and forced air into and out of my burning lungs. The wave pulled back and I was still on solid ground.

Letting out a shaky breath and swallowing hard, I slowly unfolded the paper.

_Tori,_

_If you're reading this, it's probably because I'm not there to tell you this myself. There are so many things I want to say. So many things I wish I could say to you in person…but I'll keep it short and sweet._

_I had always hoped we'd be able to find our little pocket in this world, where we could happily live together, peacefully. Where we could just be happy. Where we could simply be together. I suppose that's why I got these things for you, to keep a naïve hope alive._

_Unfortunately, we're demigods. Our lives have been rough. We've been through and suffered so much. Our time together was short, compared to what it could have been, but it was one of the best times of my life._

_-Luke_

I expected more pain, more tears, but that strange numbness had washed over me again. Well, sort of. I could still feel that agonizing hollowness in my chest that made me dizzy and breathless, but I'd stopped crying. It was painful, yet strangely comforting, reading his letter. Part of me wanted to rip it to shreds and burn the pieces while the other part wanted to keep it forever, tucked away where no one else would find it.

I shifted and noticed there was more writing near the bottom of the page: _Check the envelope again._

I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. Had that been there before? It was definitely in Luke's handwriting, but…. I tilted the envelope and felt something move inside it. Had _that_ been there before? I set the paper down and held out my palm to catch whatever was going to come out the envelope. I tilted it more and something small and round came tumbling out.

I stared at it in shock for a long moment.

A ring.

A small, smooth ring, crafted from what looked to be Celestial bronze. It felt heavier somehow, though, like it wasn't just made out of Celestial bronze.

I couldn't think about that too much, however, because that's when more tears came, the gut-wrenching pain. I curled in on myself. It felt like my whole body was falling to pieces. I gripped the ring in my fist and curled into a ball, sobbing as quietly as I could. I had things to do and places to be today, but I couldn't find it in me to pull myself together right now. I needed more time. I needed to release some of this pain before I could reign it in, before I went out there. I wouldn't be able to hide it otherwise.

* * *

I entered the Big House, breathing hard, having run from the Apollo cabin. Mr. D had summoned me a couple of minutes ago, but part of his "house rules" meant I couldn't be late. For anything. And I was afraid of what would happen if I was late. Even after everything I'd encountered and been through, the power he held as one of the Olympians scared me. Maybe living as a dolphin wouldn't be so bad, but those vines he had created, the fact that he could put me back into my deepest, darkest memories… _that's_ what frightened me more.

Mr. D and Chiron were sitting in the parlor playing a card game. I went up to Mr. D's side of the table.

"You're late," our camp director commented before I could speak.

"I'm sorry—" I started quickly, but Mr. D cleared his throat, giving me a look out of the corners of his eyes, reminding me of the rules he'd laid down.

I quickly dropped to one knee, crossing my arm over my chest, almost like I was putting a hand to my heart to say the pledge of allegiance, except my hand was resting at my shoulder and not my heart. I bowed my head.

"I apologize for the indiscretion, my Lord," I recited. "It won't happen again."

There was a moment's pause before Mr. D said, "At ease."

As I stood up, Mr. D pulled a card from the ones in his hand and flipped it, like how a magician does, the numbers and shapes disappearing to show the picture of a silver goblet. The rim was decorated with deep purple gems. The picture reminded me of how tarot cards were drawn. He laid it down on the table, pushing it toward me, and I picked it up, looking at the picture.

"This belongs to me," Mr. D said, going back to his game. "But it's gone missing. My sources tell me it was last seen in the Underworld. I'd like for you to retrieve it for me."

"The Underworld?" I asked, my eyes going from the card to Mr. D, whose own eyes had flickered back to me.

"Yes," he said in a measured tone, purple fire lighting up his eyes for the smallest of moments. "I'm assuming you already know how to get there?"

His question brought me back to the night I'd gone with Luke to the Underworld and we had used the pathway Orpheus had created.

I nodded, my demons rattling in their cage yet again.

Mr. D's eyes went back to the card game. "Because I'm feeling particularly generous, Argus will drive you into the city. From there, you're on your own. I want that goblet returned to me by this time tomorrow. Are we understood?"

I kneeled again and said, "Yes, my Lord." before standing and starting to head out. Mr. D cleared his throat again and I backtracked, facing our activities director. I kneeled respectfully, "Chiron." As I started to leave, I noticed Chiron giving Mr. D a look, but, as per usual, Mr. D ignored him and continued their game.

Argus was waiting for me on the porch.

"I'm just going to grab a few things," I told him, heading down the steps and back toward the cabins, which was now set up in the Greek letter Omega: Ω. Construction of new cabins was still going on, but it was nearing completion.

After I came back to camp, because this place wouldn't be able to live without gossip, I'd heard how Percy had turned down immortality and instead asked all the gods to recognize their children before or when they turned thirteen. And that the minor gods be welcomed and recognized more on Olympus and at camp. So construction for new cabins began immediately. Nico even had a cabin. It reminded me of the black palace on Mount Othrys—black as night, obsidian. It also reminded me of Nico's offer about the shadows.

Anyway, kids who'd been crammed into the Hermes cabin were being claimed every day. Satyrs were bringing in more and more half-bloods, working overtime.

With the rush of new-comers, camp was teeming with life. Way more than I'd ever seen in all my five years. It was almost overwhelming, but I found it was also almost comforting. I could get lost in the energy and buzz of all the people, lose myself for a few moments. And for a few moments, lose the ache in my chest that was always there when I returned.

I jogged past regulars going to their daily activities, and others guiding the wide-eyed newbies around as I made my way back to the Apollo cabin.

Will, the new head counselor, was waiting for me. He stood up from his bed as soon as I entered and held out a backpack. He and the rest of the my cabin were the only ones who knew about my punishment—which also meant they knew what that entailed and how I was to take Mr. D's words as gospel.

As much as this camp thrived on gossip, this was one thing that was to be kept secret. Mr. D had made me swear on the River Styx I wouldn't go talking about my trial and the decision (not that I wanted to). I assumed he had also made the Apollo cabin swear, too.

I don't know what the others in the camp thought, me being still alive, but at this point I didn't really care. I'd spent at least three years letting them think I was a traitor, it wasn't like what they thought really mattered anymore.

"Hey, shouldn't you be practicing archery with our other siblings?" I asked, taking the backpack from him. Even though I knew he wouldn't have left anything out, I checked for all the necessities anyway: ambrosia, nectar, water, bandages (just in case), and an extra dagger. My dagger was already strapped in its sheath at my ankle, my sword already at my side. Those two things had become part of my morning routine. Get up, get dressed, weapons.

"I stayed back to see you off," Will said. "Besides, I'm terrible at archery." He made a face.

"If you don't practice you won't get better," I sang, throwing the backpack over my shoulders.

Will rolled his eyes. "I'll come with you to get a bow and quiver of arrows," he said, pointing to the door. "So, you're first…assignment," he said as we exited and headed over to the armor.

I snorted. "You're being too generous. Anything Mr. D ever tells me from now on is an order that I can't refuse."

"Where are you going?"

I had to take a deep breath before answering. "The Underworld." It became quiet between us. I knew Will was worried about me. He was always looking at me like at any moment I was going to break. And he'd tried to hide it from me, but I knew he'd been reading up on psychology and mental disorders. Maybe not completely for my sake, there were others at camp that might need counseling, but I think he'd started because of how I'd acted the first week after Luke had—

The numbness hadn't reappeared after Dan said goodbye and went back to his apartment. He said he could stay at camp until the summer ended, help take care of things, but I knew that he was usually busy over the summer with his involvement in theater and his job. I didn't want him to just drop his life to come back to this one. So I promised him that I'd Iris Message him if I wanted to talk or needed him for any reason. I assured him that if I didn't, one of our siblings would.

I suppose the numbness hadn't completely gone away. I could still feel it there, like a light fog—ever present like the pain in my chest. I could feel that pain and other emotions too, but they were subdued, dimmed. It was almost like an anesthetic that only half worked. And I couldn't find it in me to express these emotions, either. Just feeling my emotions felt draining enough. The energy it took to keep that cage locked during the day, when I had to put on a show, be whole because the gods had kept me alive to break me, was exhausting. I didn't have the energy for much else that wasn't life-or-death.

When we arrived at the armory, we paused in front of the doors for a moment before opening them and going inside. We each grabbed a bow and quiver of arrows before exiting. I took in all the campers running around, at their activities, the fresh air, the blue skies, the smell of baking strawberries, the golden sunlight. It wasn't like I hadn't encountered more dangerous things, but this was only the beginning of more "errands" I was going to be running for Mr. D.

My life was about to change drastically. Not that it hadn't already.

"You be good, Will," I said, throwing the quiver and bow over my shoulder.

"Don't do anything rash, okay," Will responded, shouldering his quiver, but keeping his bow in his hands. "Come back to us. You'll always have a home in the Apollo cabin."

I managed a small smile. "Thanks, Will." I made no promises of return.

Will pulled me into an unexpected hug. It was quick and when he pulled back, he swiftly turned and started heading down toward the archery range without another word or a backward glance. But he hadn't turned fast enough when he'd pulled away, his eyes were rimmed red and filled with tears.

I watched him be swallowed up by the rest of the campers before going to Half-Blood Hill. Peleus was wrapped around Thalia's pine tree. The Golden Fleece still hanging at the lowest bough. I looked down at the road to see Argus waiting next to the car.

With one last look at camp, I made my way down the hill.

The ride into the city was quick, but I wasn't going to the Underworld entrance just yet. I wanted make a quick stop first. Argus looked at me through the rearview mirror warily, knowing that I only had 24 hours, and considering that time works differently in magical places, I was taking a risk, but I didn't care.

Thankfully, Argus didn't put up a fight. He drove to where I wanted him to go. I made my way through the gravestones, Argus following a few feet behind. I hadn't been here since the funeral, but I still knew exactly where her grave was. I had to wonder where her friends were, if they'd ever inquired about me and Dan or if the Mist had stopped them.

A fresh bouquet of crocuses, calla lilies, and pink carnations rested in front of the gravestone, so I knew Dan had been here recently. I stopped in front of the grave, going up and setting the single yellow tulip I'd gotten from a street-side stand before I came here on the top. I stepped back and read the engraving:

_Diana Stella Williams_

_Beloved mother and friend._

I thought the second part was a little generic, but not wrong.

A different ache in my chest joined the other one and I sighed. The wind picked up at that moment, carrying the noise away from me, ruffling my hair, bringing flashbacks with it—the time on the canoe lake when I'd almost had my first kiss with my best friend, when I'd first found out Luke had been working for Kronos.

I felt my eyes tear up.

I blinked to dispel them as the winds died down and brought my thoughts back to this moment.

Standing there, I almost felt bad for not visiting her more often, but it wasn't really like I had the chance to. Just being here was dangerous for me. It was mostly desolate, quiet. With the summer winds, my smell would be reaching who knew how many monsters in the vicinity. I couldn't stay long. I also kind of had that thing for Mr. D, so.

I turned toward Argus. "Okay, let's go."

He dropped me off outside on of the many entrances to Central Park. I thanked him and began my search for the entrance. It was the middle of the day, but I figured the Mist would help conceal not just my weapons but also me disappearing into a pile of rocks.

When I found it, I hummed a quiet little tune. Just like last time they rumbled and slid open to reveal a dark tunnel. I looked around just to make sure—no one was paying any attention to me. I looked back at the black hole, my memory of that night threatening to take over my senses completely.

The cage rattled, loud and rough, but I gritted my teeth and fought to keep them locked away. Fought to keep the pain contained.

With a one last deep, controlled breath, I descended into darkness.

" _In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate." Isaac Asimov_

* * *

**All right, guys. There you have it! I hope this ending was all right. I didn't realize how hard it would be to write it until I actually started writing it. Not just because I've worked on this story for a little over a year and almost don't want to finish it, but also because I didn't quite know how to end it. Like, I don't want to leave off on a cliff-hanger, but there's really no way to end this with finality without killing her, which, as you have read, I opted not to do. So…open-ended it is! Then there's the problem of writing a satisfying open-ending…blah, blah, blah.**

**The title's probably vague, but I took it from that saying, "To Hell and back." (I know so original.)**

**Lastly, I want to thank all my wonderful readers for sticking with me to the end (of the line). Especially when I went abroad. All your favorites, follows, and comments really helped me keep writing. I can't believe it's been a little over a year and that this is 43 chapters! It's been an amazing journey, and I hope you'll join me for the next installment (whenever that may be)!**

**Thank you for reading,  
** **TheBrightestNight**

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Djinn Dreams](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10524030) by [lucifersfavoritechild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifersfavoritechild/pseuds/lucifersfavoritechild)




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